Jo Sarzotti

*I received a free paperback copy in exchange for an honest review. No compensation has been given and I write this book review willingly. A big thanks to Black Lawrence Press and Diane Goettel!*

Introduction
This book was recommended to me on Goodreads by none other than… the publisher! Yes, Black Lawrence Press added me as a friend, followed my reviews and sent me this recommendation. I couldn’t help adding Waiting for Achilles to my “Want to read” list and, desperate for a review copy of this poetry collection, I contacted them. Graciously, they granted me a copy. I’m so thrilled to have read this raw, moving and mythical-inspired poetry book!

So, not only is the cover gorgeous and quite relevant to the topics explored, the book is entertaining and deep with meaning.

Let’s delve into it together, shall we?

The Positive Sides
I liked the continuous theme of horses, mostly black ones, throughout the poems. It felt unifying and helped put the poems in motion and dig into their meanings. It also felt like Ariadne’s string in Greek mythology.

The poem that stood out the most to me is “Abduction by a God”, which retells the story of Perspephone being abducted by Hades. Not only is it my favourite mythological story (yeah, I know, weird), the words chosen, the images depicted, and the rhythm just got to me. “Hospital Mind” is another one that got under my skin, but because of its sadness I can relate to as someone who spends a good chunk of my life in hospitals due to serious health issues. The emotions, feelings and descriptions are accurate and echo in me. “Fear of Drowning” is dark and angsty, heart-breaking because we’ve all been there too, with a broken heart, no matter its type. “Woman in Space” is entracing, beautiful, and speaks of feminism to me—or a lack of it. As for “Norse Mythology”, I rather enjoyed the Trickster (Loki), the Ourobouros, and the vikings. It made me grin and nod with approval, which is a good reaction to a poem. Lastly, “The Shoemaker’s Wife” describes the way we care about doing our duty, whatever it may be like the shoemaker’s wife (to be clear, I’m talking about picking up shoemaking herself), and how we have to cross boundaries to do it and succeed.

Of course, there are several interesting poems other than these I mentioned, but I figured sharing my experience was a good way to make you feel them, too. A bit, at least. The last positive point I’ll bring up is how loosely connected these poems sound to one another. It’s a tenuous strong, linking them all, but it’s there. And I think it’s amazing to see this subtle connection at play.

The Negative Sides
While all the poems are interconnected, forming an ensemble, the words and meanings are often separated and hard to grasp. It’s almost like they’re unrelated for the most part. I understand the free nature of poetry, as I write some myself, but this goes beyond seamless connections and transitions.

In Conclusion
For the sheer enjoyment I had reading this poetry collection (and look at that gorgeous cover!) as well as the difficulty of grasping a few of them, I give Waiting for Achilles a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. I plan on re-reading it down the road of my life and choose to keep it in my personal library. It’s a nice addition, deep, sometimes dark, always honest. I enjoyed the ride on Achilles’s black horse and gladly recommend this poetry collection to poetry readers, poets, mythology lovers, Greek world lovers, and those looking for diverse poems about other things than simply heartbreaks and love matters that seem to plague a lot of our contemporary poetry.… (mehr)