A delightful book of imaginary poetry. Thoroughly enjoyed.
Good selection of poems on a broad range of subject matter.

'A stone bed complete with stone pillow
in an office the size of an outhouse.
Along the top edge of hall
(where a wallpaper border
might go) is porn so old we feel safe
saying "art" and smiling.'

Having no idea what this book was about - only being drawn in by the title - I went into it with no expectations. In fact, I wasn't even aware it was a poetry book before opening up my kindle, and the surprise was an extremely pleasant one.

Kathleen Balma starts off strong with a strange poem about Abraham Lincoln and how he built the log cabin he was born in:

'The ghostly glob of fetal Abraham sneaks out of his mother's womb at night with architecture on his budding mind.'

You're drawn into the almost Lewis Carroll Jabbawocky-esque nonsense ('pigs will be crossbred with their veg... how delicious the porkiflower! How rich the oinccoli and hamfalfa sprouts'), only Balma is a much stronger, louder, and mature voice than Carroll's classic style. The wonderful mixture of reality and unreality, the childish and the grown-up, is a great balance to have in poetry.

This feels political, cultural, and important. Sometimes you need a moment to digest what you've read, but you come out a better person for having read it. I love pieces of work like that.

As a greedy and constant devourer of poetry, I'm always looking for fresh voices who will spark excitement within my word-full stomach. Kathleen Balma is definitely one of those voices.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for sending me a copy in return for an honest review.

I found this a difficult read and not at all enjoyable. I think it did not help that the layouts of the poems were not correct on my Kindle. I do think line breaks are so important to the rhythm of poetry and these were muddled.

From Your Hostess at the T&A Museum states: “Every country is a cure for something,” and Kathleen Balma’s new poetry collection is a surefire cure for stuffy, pedantic poetry. These funny, often surprising poems play with language and revel in ironic and trenchant perceptions. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the opening poem, “What the Traveler Knows,” which advises: “If you are hideous \ in your hometown, there is a locale \ where you can melt the locals \ with your sunless eyes \ and hold your wire-haired head high while an \ effervescent flow of admires \ bubbles from the sacred streets, \ winking and circling you on bikes.”

In “What Do Ghosts Need?” Balma tells us “A ghost needs an audience or it’s pointless. But does a ghost need a point? No. Never mind then.” This playfulness never fails to delight, while it also exhumes certain unconsidered insights. The title poem asks the reader to view strippers and the striptease in a new light: “Tip me for what you don’t see: the abstract; the invisible; the squiggly outline of a model’s brain matter in silhouette...”

The final poem, Snubbed: A Motion Picture Ekphrasis, is a tour de force of invention. Based on a documentary by Xi Zhinong about Golden Subbed Nosed Monkeys, the poem evokes the kaleidoscopic sensations of jungle life, and the hierarchies and sorrows within. The gift of these poems are to make you think, and rethink, how you’ve conceptualized the world. From ghosts to Abe Lincoln to monkeys, Balma gives us new ways to see. Highly recommend.

"From Your Hostess at the T&A Museum" b Kathleen Balma started off so great and then it completely lost me with the absurdity of the second part.

A delightful poetry collection — whimsical and playful, although with a biting undertone that pervades through the wordplay and surreal imagery.

I feel like maybe this book wasn't for me and that's okay. Poetry can be a bit of a hit and miss for me, but there are a few in this collection I really loved! Especially the one based on Ten and Rose from Doctor Who, but there were others that flew over my head unfortunately.

Thank you, NetGalley for the chance to read and review From Your Hostess at the T&a Museum by Kathleen Balma!

As much as I want to love the whole of it, some pieces stood out more than others. The book seems fairly different from a lot of modern poetry that I get my hands on, and I do appreciate that!

The book is divided into two sections, Harlequinade and Snubbed. The former is a collection of poems, where some were good and others forgettable. Some of my personal favorites are, A Tour of Pompeii's red-light district; Stopping time is not as useful as we thought; The Forgiveness project; and what do ghosts need.

The second section, Snubbed, is really fun to read, even if it is a little odd!

I enjoy strange things. I enjoy poetry. I enjoy strange poetry. I loved this.
This collection of poems is a deep dive into what I feel is the basis of humanity - complete absurdity. It very much felt like if someone were to turn an Eduardo Paolozzi piece into a poetry book. This is a good thing. Animals, kings, ghosts, John Wayne, John Deere. It reminded me of a friend with whom I would have conversations on the most bizarre topics over the noise of the lunch hall. The book itself feels like one of these conversations in its entirety - it is nice to read poetry that has such a familiar feeling yet such unexpected storylines, it references so many different things from our society without ever feeling jarring or throwing you out of the immersion. The odd continuation of (or rather, jumps between) subject matter almost felt like reading the inside of my own brain. As such this is, strangely, comforting.

#ad #gifted | thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

this book is heavily experimental, playful and absurd (in a good way!), with a wide range of different poetic structures and forms covering a variety of topics from the genres of sci-fi, fantasy and contemporary literature, with references to music, literary allusions and lots and lots of bizarreness

an enjoyable collection to read and experience, but a lot to wrap your head around of what was going on, which is common is wacky poetry like this, so keep a dictionary in hand when reading because the diction choices do get overtly complicated at times

Kathleen Balma, winner of a Pushcart Prize for the titular poem of this debut collection, reveals herself to be part fireside storyteller, part standup comic, and part singing bard in what is surely one of the most mature and wildly entertaining first poetry books of the decade. Neither shy nor sentimental, these poems reveal an imagination in hyperdrive. Gliding between comedy, philosophy, and drama with the athletic ease of an Olympic ice skater, Balma takes us on a tour of her intellectual preoccupations with topics as far-ranging as Abraham Lincoln, small-town strippers, and snub-nosed monkeys of the Himalayas. The book is divided into two parts: part one is a collection of eclectic yet cohesive poems that show off an impressive range of forms while demonstrating lyric muscle and a mastery of the narrative arc; part two is a long ekphrastic piece that rivals Eliot for poignancy and Donne for wit. While each turn of the page is a surprise, the book feels ordered and unified. [Highly Recommended.]