Great Poetry despite my expectations were higher

I have been eagerly awaiting this book with great anticipation but, to put it bluntly, my expectations were higher. Nevertheless, it is a great poetry collection and I enjoyed reading it. Atwoods down-to-earth and plain (but not simplifying) language draws the reader into the book and its stories that need to be listened to. I very much liked the assortment of the poems in each chapter. The different chapters cover almost all grand narratives of our times: the human condition, sexuality and violence against women and girls, feminism, environment pollution/ climate change, development of language (e.g. gender-specific), aliens, science-fiction and cyborgs, etc. The greatest gift of the author is to create awesome stories deeply engrafted into each of the poems. My favourite poem is "Zombie" which reflects on Rainer Maria Rilke's not very self-explanatory verse "Poetry is the past that breaks out in our hearts." In doing that, she describes the different faces and opportunities that poetry involves: "The hand on your shoulder. The almost-hand: Poetry, coming to claim you." - To book's end is filled with grief about the (almost) forgotten "Dearly", a poem about an old-fashioned word that has so much to say but is hardly used anymore in everyday language and with the admittance of becoming old and wise, reflecting on a rich and fulfilling life that has become a thing of the past. Putting my expectations aside, I highly recommend this poetry selection to the great "Atwood Fanclub" and to the many poetry lovers.

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