Mad Honey Symposium

I’m going to jump right into the new year with a book review. I did manage to read a few more books in 2016 two of which were poetry books. Before, I begin my review of Mad Honey Symposium, I want to say that I am not at all a poetry fan. But I want to expand my reading and I want to be open to all forms of literary art and that includes poetry as well.

Mad Honey Symposium by Sally Wen Mao is a collection of poems… Uh, I have never really read a poetry book before and suddenly I don’t know what to say.

One thing I can say about it the book is that it was weird. I didn’t understand what the poems were about and I wasn’t able to make an emotional connection. All my negative feelings towards poetry were reaffirmed with this collection. I’ve long thought that poetry was bullshit at it’s finest, but Mao has won several awards and this book is critically acclaimed in the poetry realm and I just wasn’t getting it.

In short, if you are new to poetry and at the very beginnings of uncloaking this mysterious art form, this book isn’t for you. Oppositely, if you are well versed in the art of poetry, then this collection of poems may be just what you’re looking for.