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Reviews
The poems in Begin at Once are truly investigations,
never simply statements of things the poet already claims to know.
They wander– sometimes lightly, sometimes darkly, sometimes
with a quiet but sharp irony, but always generously– over
all sorts of contrasting subjects with a startling insight that
traces the swift and shocking changes of a life lived in a world
that’s genuinely right here, right now. Beth Joselow’s
poems discover, and uncover, keen truths that always surprise
and unsettle and make us think again about things we believed
we understood.There’s real wisdom in Begin At Once, and the
world sure does need more of that.
— Mark Wallace
Joselow’s poems are “tender numbers”
for “people who used to be hungry”. We’ve been
chowing down on the drill, organizing our lives around days of
rain/bells with colors/gears without mesh until we experience
more numbers/further use as “…elusive optimism/skin
of ice…” So how do we unsettle the daily bout? Joselow
suggests we take each poem as “one more time” to be
“simply there” “In support of ________” …”To
contain _______” so that we have some unslotted space to
“sit down now, begin at once.”
— Tina Darragh
Begin at Once is a terrific collection because Beth Joselow is
a writer with a great gift, but it’s also a tease. Because
this is a book, all 104 pages of it, that leaves you wanting to
read so very much more.
-- Ron Silliman
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