Reviews by Kate: Iron Moon

I was so excited to read and review Iron Moon, translated by Eleanor Goodman for Doug Holder's Boston are small press & Poetry scene blog. Reviewing poetry translation is so fascinating to me because you dig through so many layers of art and craftship. Sometimes poetry translations fall flat, but this book sings. Top shelf. The poems will stay with me.

The “iron” in Iron Moon is an image that fuses itself coldly and frequently. It is the ear splitting sounds of cutting gears and kinetic friction. Other times, iron is a metal deeply unheard, “Covered by twilight the huge cooling chunk of iron/gives off a darkening silence.” (Alu, “An Elegy for C”) Iron is an all-consuming crude symbol of broken dreams; the ethos of metal and machinery that is a heavy hit on one’s intelligence and artistry.