Maybe a 3.5? But I’m thinking a full 4.
I’m a baby poetry reader. I tend to get a little nervous around the experimental, anything that pushes the bounds of this form I already find a bit hard—though rewarding!—to grasp. But man, Shira Erlichman blew all that way.
In this collection, she tears apart (and rebuilds) form in order to best portray her experience with bipolar. In this way, the forms (and the unique, metaphors the poems contain) echo the sticky, puzzling form of her illness.
Sometimes, I got a little lost with what Erlichman was doing, but man, when it worked, it worked.
I especially enjoyed Pink Noise—where illness is likened to the false song of a seashell; On This End— where Erlichman writes letters between her and her mother in reverse; and Portrait of a Release— which is a more straight-forward narrative about her release from a mental health facility.
The book also has gorgeous illustrations!