Without a Claim by Grace Schulman

Without a Claim Reviews

• 
  Ionia

  If you are a lover of poetry and beautifully crafted prose, then this is a book that you will not want to miss out on.
  
  Grace Schulman is a poet who commands language to bend to her will. She uses words as artists use paint and canvas, painting an illustrious and lasting picture for her audience.
  
  These poems have a melodic flow that makes them a joy to read aloud. I daresay they are almost more incredible passing the lips than whilst still in the mind.
  
  Heavily steeped in nature, art and history, you will find complete stories here within the confines of each contemporary psalm. Some of the pieces are of a rather melancholy nature, but still written in such a way that you feel better after having read them.
  
  I would certainly recommend this book to anyone. Find a quiet place, turn down the lights and allow yourself to fully enjoy this incredible book.
  
  This review is based on a digital ARC from the publisher and provided through Netgalley.
• 
  Sara Diane

  I had never heard of Grace Schulman before seeing this title on a list of pre-reads. Being a poetry fan (and a poet myself), I requested it. While I didn't fall in love with her voice or style, Schulman's poetry does have a universal feel to it. Those people who strain themselves with imagery will enjoy this book, as Schulman doesn't invoke complex images, and she keeps everything fairly down to earth. She does reference a lot of known (and not so known) artists and writers, and in a large way, I felt that her tendency to do so detracted from her work instead of adding to it. I didn't ever feel, as I do with other poets, that I was on a journey with her through each poem, rather, I felt like I was flipping through random thoughts jotted down after the fact.
  
  Schulman's poetry is unlikely to ever be a favorite of mine, but she does write clean, strong poetry that readers on a similar journey (I can't tell you exactly what journey, as I did not connect to the work deeply enough) will embrace and find a friend in.
• 
  Joseph Spuckler

  Without a Claim, by Grace Schulman is her seventh published collection of poetry. Schulman holds a PhD from New York University and is Distinguished Professor of English at Baruch College CUNY. She has taught poetry at Princeton, Columbia, and other universities. Schulman has served as Poetry Editor at the Nation, and director of the Poetry Center. Her work has also appeared in numerous journals.
  
  Without a Claim is the most traditional collection of poetry I read this month. Not rantings or socio-economic messages, but poetry like you read in English Literature class, almost magical. It takes the reader to a place where he or she can say, “Yes, this is what poetry is!” My first thoughts in reading were “This reminds me of Leaves of Grass.” Not necessarily in topic, but in feeling. It's when you pick up the book with the idea of reading for half an hour and seemingly minutes later, you realize that four hours have gone by. My feeling of a Whitman influence was well grounded. Early on in the collection is the poem “Variations on a Line by Whitman.”
  
  “Shadow” is a poem of about Paris singer and her relationship with a black American (soldier) trumpet player. Although not mentioned in the poem, after WWI black soldiers who married French women were given the choice of staying in France or going home...alone. This could very much be that story. There is history in the collection, but it is the background to the poetry rather than the subject.
  
  “Love in the Afternoon” is a poem that on the surface is about butterflies, but seems to be more about poetry and its grace and subtle movements. Here the beauty of nature manifests itself as poetry. “Green River” takes us to a country cemetery and we meet to those interred. They speak to us through their stones and leave us wanting to ask the dead a question. We know what the answer will be, but we ask anyway. Perhaps the cemetery shows us that in life, as much as in death, that we all want the same thing and no matter who we are, we all connected by something as simple as a gravel path.
  
  Without a Claim is poetry that is enchanting and you will read it and reread it again. There seems to be something to be gained at each reread. The imagery crystal clear and enticing. This is a work that you will want to keep and read over and over again. Simply an amazing experience.
• 
  Aidan McGuire

  2.5, This book took me over half a year even though it was under a hundred pages. I loved and hated this little book. Many of the poems are bright and glinting, curious and interesting like broken glass. But I really could not get ahold of her style and voice enough to convict me to turn the page. Oftentimes with careful reading I found myself holding not much of anything.
• 
  _bookishtea

  Not my thing
• 
  Julia

  Meh.
• 
  Kris

  reviewed by America magazine.
• 
  Skye

  How did I go this long without having discovered Schulman's poems? I bought this volume at the Strand partly because the wave on the cover piqued my curiosity, since I just finished writing a book of poems on the whaling industry. Her poems didn't end up being about whales but instead sucked me into an incredible reflective and magical space. I quickly bought a second volume of hers and I can honestly say that of all living American poets (R.I.P. Mary Oliver, whom I miss as if she and I were best friends), Schulman (and maybe Marie Howe) is a poet I most look up to.