Wild Is the Wind: Poems

Wild Is the Wind is one of may books of poetry by Carl Phillips. Together they all reveal the mind of one who excels inside the mysteries of life, a kind of retrospective with mellifluous bite, the songs of a master of rhyme and knowledge, the work, the makings of a true poet. Congratulations!--ABH

I really enjoy Phillips' poetry, and his latest collection is as strong as always. Not overly decorated to obscure their meaning, his poems in their personal and philosophical reflections about life and relationships often lead me to reflect on my own past and relationships in a thoughtful manner, sometimes appreciating them in new ways. It's often said that the world would be better off if everyone were to read something or other, and for me Phillips' poetry is such a body of work.

I find something in Carl Phillips's poems that says to others, "This is how to achieve what you are seeking through poetry." Many contemporary poets string together casual but carefully crafted phrases that seem unrelated, but that in some deep sense tell a story. Phillips seems to make that real, whereas others are just mostly off virtuosic displays of language. Phillips doesn't indulge in lot of modifiers or other scene-painting, but knows how to craft the fumbling, ambivalent phrases of everyday life, such as "more often than not," into lyricism. The poems are worth savoring slowly (I admit I did). Most are short, making them fast reading but reinforcing their richness. I find a simple, short poem such as "Gold Leaf" a deep commentary on my own life. I will definitely check out some of his Phillips's other books.

Some poetry one can read once and say that was good or not. Some you have to read at least twice if not more and then say good or not. This collection falls into the second category.Most of the poems take a few reads to grasp the depth, while some are easier to understand. Phillips has a way of taking the ordinary and making it unusual and vice versa. An example is this line, "I've spent this morning clearing best as I can the strange pornography that last night's storms made of the trees in the yard."This is worth the read and worthy of four stars.

Like, a little too deep for me. My mom and I both love poetry, but this one takes just a little to long to figure out. The words fit English grammar and syntax but they do not make sense together. I have been able to decipher a few of them after a loooong analysis, and that's kind of fun. If you like that kind of thing, go ahead. If you prefer things to be a little more straightforward, this might not be fore you. It's definitely challenging. Still, five stars because it's not BAD poetry just because I don't understand it.