Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys: Poems by D.A. PowellMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
There is no doubt that D.A. Powell is a gifted poet. His verses are lyrical and beautiful and he creates vivid depictions of California landscapes in the early poems of this collection. At first I found myself in love with this collection until further in it because looser and more juvenile. Fantastic imagery was replaced by crude depictions of casual same-sex debauchery.
While it is undeniable that Powell has a way with words and can make any situation musical and witty, I personally didn't find the subject matter of several of the poems endearing or relatable. While other reviewers have called these poems 'homosexual love poems', they weren't even that. They were depictions of random vulgar sexual experiences. While I agree that these topics may have merit for poetry in the eyes of many people, I found myself uninterested and unimpressed during these specific poems which was unfortunate because the other stuff in this collection was quite good.
Overall this collection felt like a weird disjointed mix of a homosexual campfire poems and another side of beautifully scripted poetic landscapes. Not sure I can recommend this book overall to many people besides my LGBT friends but I may perhaps check out another selection by Powell.
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