Reviews continue to come in for Jane Rosenberg LaForge's full-length poetry collection, "With Apologies to Mick Jagger, Other Gods, and All Women" [Amazon, $14].
Sarah Ann writes at Dreamworld Book Reviews:
"Dark, depressing, cynical, and beautiful all at the same time. LaForge's poems remind me of a series of confusing dreams and nightmares that tend to stick with you all day long until the following night, when you hope the next dreams you have will erase the ones that came before it. I read 'With Apologies...' twice, all the way through. Some of the poems, I read three or four times... my copy has made a permanent home on my bookshelf."
G. Emil Reutter writes at Fox Chase Review:
"LaForge brings us into a world of textured darkness and light. Character poems of youth, aging and social issues flow through this collection. She writes in a narrative form in tightly constructed poems, never wasting a line or a word. This poet’s work reflects the world she lives in and the alternative world she views... This collection is on the dark side yet the pulse of life radiates in each poem, beating with a memory of a life lived and a life full of observation."
Robin Stratton writes at Boston Literary Review:
"With a title like that, you expect sexy, steamy sass. At least I did—I’ve been a fan of Jane Rosenberg LaForge for a few years, and know her to be a mistress of imagery, insight and beautiful mindfulness. But I wasn’t prepared for this melancholy LaForge, this voice of sorrow, of bittersweet looking back. From poignant memories of her parents, to watching her sister die, LaForge paints a breathtaking picture of life’s Entirety with scenes that swing from a hygiene-challenged lover to a slumber party to her own profile on Facebook. Uh huh, it’s all here, and no, it’s not all pretty. But for me, the final powerful line says it all: 'Where there is not a broken heart / but a muscle rendered blunt / into a numb instrument / there is a daughter.' "
See this post for later reviews.