Book Review: I hope this finds you well

 

Kate Baer stuns and delights again in her latest collection, I hope this finds you well. The poems are made from comments in DM's she has gotten, statements made in the media, comment sections of articles and she distills the verbose and often sexist tropes into poems that catch the reader off guard in the best way possible.

From a comment about #MeToo,

"women/want to/live/without fear/For thousands of years/We were not believed/this/is/what we/carry

From a comment from a (presumably) male identified person who actually tells Baer "I find your work well written, but the subject matter not necessarily what I want to read about." (I actually gasped at that sentence; sexism shouldn't still surprise these days, but it was so starkly painted here.)

"it is/unbearable/the way/we have allowed/what is good/to take/the/shape of/men"

The author balances the vitriol and downright crudeness with love and hope from readers who reached out after seeing her work and the reader can feel the love in the latter poems.

Many readers were excited for her new book after her instant bestseller, What Kind of Woman and this book does not fail to deliver. Baer has also stated that a third book is in the final stages, set for publication in Fall of 2022.

If this is the new fall trend, count me delighted to have this wonderful poet to look forward to in late fall every year.

This collection is for everyone in your life and I only wish it were longer.

(Image: personal collection)