Michael Favala Goldman, known for his evocative poetry and acclaimed translations of Danish literature, continues to make an impact with his latest collection, Destinations. In a recent review on Tweetspeak Poetry, the depth and resonance of Goldman’s work are explored, highlighting his ability to capture both the intimate and the universal. The review delves into his poetic themes, style, and the emotional landscapes he navigates. An expert from the review reads:
Families who disapprove of a choice of spouse. War refugees debating what to take with them. A boy navigating his parents’ divorce. A lost friendship. A child born with a physical impairment. A romance going awry. The physical pains that often accompany emotional ones. The special dinner that grows cold. Trying to help a friend with dementia. A father suffering a brain tumor.
This is the world of Destinations: Poems, the ninth poetry collection by Michael Favala Goldman. It’s a world of brokenness and people managing through it, sometimes well and sometimes not.
Goldman describes this world with simple, almost stark language. The poems are preoccupied less with language and its sounds and meanings and more with the stories the words are telling. They’re not so much narrative poems as they are impressionistic. They leave the reader with the sense of loss, of what is and what should have been but wasn’t.
Read the full piece here: Tweetspeak Poetry.