I Am Wings
Atheneum, 1994
Poetry
ISBN: 0027353958
48 pages
Synopsis
Arranged into two parts, Falling In and Falling Out, an anthology of poetry explores the many faces and forms of love, capturing the uncertainty, triumph, joy, and pain of first love.
Critique
It’s rare that poems about love, especially teenage love or first love escape being really cheesy. Most of the great love poems that we hearken to were written well before this century and most were written the century before that. Love, as a concept, as a subject of poetry has become very tired, old, used and cliché. This is unfortunate considering that it’s one of the most profound, complex, and beautiful elements of human life.
All that is to say that this novel is not much of an exception on being cheesy, but past the verse itself, the story being weaved from poem to poem creates something somewhat interesting and unique. Also, I do appreciate poetry written for the young adult genre, because there is very little of it. This book is a quick light read that I recommend to those who want to reminisce about first love or look toward it. It’s lighthearted and fun, much like the way first love feels.
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For the Classroom
Although there’s not much to be used for classroom studies, it may be a good book to give middle school students as quick, light reading that will expose them to some recently written poetry that may be somewhat relevant to their lives.
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