A Review of Long Island Sad Poems by Jane-Rebecca Cannarella

In her new collection, Long Island Sad Poems, Jane-Rebecca Cannarella explores the geography of memory and the aftermath of emotional complexity tied to the landscapes of her past. The poems speak softly yet roil with passions that blend yearning, joy, pain, and trauma all emanating from the same moments in time, buried in tidal silence of movie theaters, beachside summers, baseball fields and sundry Long Island monuments. Locals might have no trouble spotting some places, and readers will have no trouble conjuring them all from her carefully crafted, descriptive, and beautiful poems. 

But beauty can come at a cost, and even the most delicate and wistful of her poems in this collection feel shaded by regret and hidden wounds. There’s such a rich mix of fearful angst and warm nostalgia that I’m not always sure if she’s celebrating or lamenting these moments, or perhaps both! That sense of complex ambiguity adds to the depth of the work. I like being sure of only so many things in a poem, especially one where the poet may feel so many things about what she’s revealing to us. 

Despite this ambiguity, the poems have great clarity. At times I feel right there with her, collecting stones along the coastline and tying those physical totems to well-worn childhood memories. The more memories revealed in subsequent poems, the more stones carried forward, held tightly, almost painfully so, a bold and admiral burden. 

The nostalgia is sweet as well, balanced by the sadness promised in the title of the collection. At no point do the emotions of the pieces overwhelm, instead the descriptions and desire to move forward (while looking back) propel the reader through expositions of reminiscence, astronomy, geography, history, wending through place and time with vivid and ascendible images that invite companionship through these streets and beaches. 

The balance between evoking the universal while sharing such specific personal shards of nostalgia is a goal we all hope to achieve in our poetry, and Jane-Rebecca Cannarella has found that perfect equilibrium with Long Island Sad Poems. A fantastic collection.   

Look for it here: https://serotoninpress.com/books/

review by James H Duncan