Even if a small percentage of the poems in Alice Miller’s “Nowhere Nearer” didn’t quite come off (for me at least), overall I really liked this compact little volume. It has a style and voice that resonates with me.
I guess that’s one of the unique things about poetry; not just its ability to speak in a particular language, but also in a particular voice – and when it works, it’s almost as if there is a secret code between the writer and reader. If that connection doesn’t exist, or if it misfires, I think we know we don’t like the work much more readily than we do for prose. If we don’t like someone’s prose, maybe we often blame the subject matter first and style second – “I’m just not into historical novels”…
In any event, some of Miller’s verse really struck a chord. [Is that the reader in me or the poet in me speaking…?!]
Ian Gouge - Writer 