Our Favorite Poet: Leigh Chadwick's Sophomore Slump
Reviewed by Adam Van Winkle
Leigh Chadwick is simply one of the most brilliant poets going.
Despite its title, Sophomore Slump, this year’s follow up to 2022’s Your Favorite Poet—both from Malarkey Books—rises above the herd.
Sophomore Slump carries the motif of an album throughout (starting with the cover) including numbered “Demo” poems, a guitar “shaped like a pharmacy” that spills Adderall out of the amp when strummed, “emo in C minor,” and deluxe edition bonus tracks.
Chadwick has a gift for form and writing from beyond it. Whether it’s one of the one line poems touting an index finger as the MVP of the speaker’s “third-favorite orgasm” or the ultimate capital T Truth of not knowing the beginning when you’re in the beginning, the most striking piece, eight blank pages titled “A Comprehensive List of Places to Hide from a Bullet,” the image of a dog-eared heart, or titling a poem about “practicing how to live” “Uncorrected Proof,” Chadwick relentlessly stuns.
And she lets the reader in. The result of her metapoetry is not pretentious. It invites the reader to create the poetry with her. At one point she acknowledges in all caps gratefulness for the reader holding the book and looking at the page (however nefariously the book was procured).
But it’s this reader who is eternally grateful for this album of hits. Chadwick manages to balance the deeply personal with the incredibly socially relevant. She and this book are a gift.
Reviewed by Adam Van Winkle
Leigh Chadwick is simply one of the most brilliant poets going.
Despite its title, Sophomore Slump, this year’s follow up to 2022’s Your Favorite Poet—both from Malarkey Books—rises above the herd.
Sophomore Slump carries the motif of an album throughout (starting with the cover) including numbered “Demo” poems, a guitar “shaped like a pharmacy” that spills Adderall out of the amp when strummed, “emo in C minor,” and deluxe edition bonus tracks.
Chadwick has a gift for form and writing from beyond it. Whether it’s one of the one line poems touting an index finger as the MVP of the speaker’s “third-favorite orgasm” or the ultimate capital T Truth of not knowing the beginning when you’re in the beginning, the most striking piece, eight blank pages titled “A Comprehensive List of Places to Hide from a Bullet,” the image of a dog-eared heart, or titling a poem about “practicing how to live” “Uncorrected Proof,” Chadwick relentlessly stuns.
And she lets the reader in. The result of her metapoetry is not pretentious. It invites the reader to create the poetry with her. At one point she acknowledges in all caps gratefulness for the reader holding the book and looking at the page (however nefariously the book was procured).
But it’s this reader who is eternally grateful for this album of hits. Chadwick manages to balance the deeply personal with the incredibly socially relevant. She and this book are a gift.