NetGalley Review: Full-Time Mammal

Thank you NetGalley and University of Iowa Press for the ARC of “Full-Time Mammal” by Rennie Ament.

This is a great collection of free verse poetry. Rennie Ament writes in a direct, take-charge voice that keeps readers engaged and wanting to know what she will say next.

I really like the poem “Now” at the start of the book. It opens like an enchantment and grows into a reflection of life and history. “Unconscious Self-Regulation” celebrates the lives of the tiny creatures of the earth, remarking on the contrast of those simple lives with Godhood.

Ament meditates on the poetry of potatoes and ruminates on the Year Without a Sun with Mary Shelley. She cuts herself free from restraint and finds personhood, then seeks divinity in a bowl of barbecue tofu. Ament weighs the spiritual gospel of Johnny Appleseed against the life force of moss and the violence of humans toward each other.

Rennie Ament’s writing makes you consider each line, encourages you to read slowly so you don’t miss the transformation of words into meaning.