![]() ![]() It’s not easy to be so convincing in both the grand gesture and the reverent contemplation of a humble plate of eggs, and the early successes of this collection far outweigh its later missteps. Smiths Life on Mars is a fantastic collection of poems that explores a wide variety of issues: grief, illness, pop culture, the weather and David. In Life on Mars, Smith shows herself to be a poet of extraordinary range and ambition. There are certainly some fine poems here - 'When Your Small Form Tumbled Into Me' is a gorgeous and ecstatic sonnet - but after the intensity and focus of the opening sequences, some of these poems feel like also-rans. Life on Mars concludes with another group of poems on miscellaneous subjects, but here the concerns are more lighthearted, personal and domestic. Smith’s desire to write about injustice is commendable, but her approach can be haphazard. The end of Life on Mars is less successful than the beginning. She explores the discoveries, failures, and oddities of human existence in a sci-fi future devoid of real dangers. Smith’s pairing of the philosophically minded poems in the book’s first section with the long elegy for her father in the second is brilliant. Smith imagines a soundtrack for the universe with poems that evoke David Bowie and interplanetary travel. Smith is quick to suggest that the important thing is not to discover whether or not we’re alone in the universe it’s to accept - or at least endure - the universe’s mystery. ![]()
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