A beautiful creation of song and scar, of emotional complexity and simple witness, Louis Efron's debut collection The Unempty Spaces Between mingles the natural and human worlds in a series of accessible, personal, universal poems. From lush to bare, the landscapes he presents us with are so intertwined with and impacted by our actions that we realize the two have always been one. Brimming with meditations deep as winter snow and boundless compassion and curiosity, these vibrant poems remain grounded in a universal familiarity that opens us up to something greater.
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Petrified roots cemented deepIn the rigid jaws of earth- BEAUTIFUL TREES
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(Cathexis Northwest Press, 1 May 2023, e-book, 62 pages, copy from PoeticBookTours, BlogTour 7 July)
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I really enjoyed reading The Unempty Spaces Between. Like the best poetry collections, the poems on offer are both deeply personal yet tackle universal themes and ideas. I really like the front cover, and this made me want to read the collection. The poems were written in mostly the same style and format. I would have liked a bit of variation, but the content of the poems is the important thing, and this works time and time again. I especially liked Short Circuit, Empty Attics, Oh Father, End Game and Cracked.