Christiana Lloyd-Kirk's Review of Jaclyn Jacobson's "Family Reunion"
Can I just say I fucking love this? This poem is so great it's making me curse. The images and word choice are bloody fantastic. Nothing says precious quite like doped up Auntie and the Pomeranian's pale, pink, penis. (Which brings me to my next compliment)..I love your sound repetition. The line with the Pomeranian had to be the most obvious...but you've got it going on everywhere..."Warped Wallpaper", "dips down," "brainless babbble," "Wieners wrapped," "happily hanging himself"....does wonderful things for the poem. I really can't criticize this.
The warped wallpaper in grandma’s house dips down,
looming over my head like the anxiety of being surrounded by
strangers I’m forced to call family.
Here comes auntie, doped up again on “the doctor’s orders”,
drowning me in brainless babble and the stench of cheap perfume,
while making eyes at the tiny burnt wieners wrapped in soggy buns
on the lone side table.
She inhales a handful down, choking on them like she chokes on
the gentleman who fucks her frequently in his trendy apartment
who is definitely not my uncle who’s been missing all night,
most likely happily hanging himself upstairs.
I’ll join him just so we can escape this wretched woman and her
Pomeranian who’s been persistently penetrating my left leg with his
pale pink penis.
The warped wallpaper in grandma’s house dips down,
looming over my head like the anxiety of being surrounded by
strangers I’m forced to call family.
Here comes auntie, doped up again on “the doctor’s orders”,
drowning me in brainless babble and the stench of cheap perfume,
while making eyes at the tiny burnt wieners wrapped in soggy buns
on the lone side table.
She inhales a handful down, choking on them like she chokes on
the gentleman who fucks her frequently in his trendy apartment
who is definitely not my uncle who’s been missing all night,
most likely happily hanging himself upstairs.
I’ll join him just so we can escape this wretched woman and her
Pomeranian who’s been persistently penetrating my left leg with his
pale pink penis.