7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland OR, 97219 (map) 503-246-0053 Open 9 AM - 9 PM Mon - Fri, 9 AM - 6 PM Sat-Sun Mask Policy
7834 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland OR, 97219 (map) 503-246-0053 Open 9 AM - 9 PM Mon - Fri, 9 AM - 6 PM Sat-Sun Mask Policy
Ada Limón's The Hurting Kind is a collection of closely watching, both the surrounding world and interior responses to it, filled with the urge to connect and understand. There is a desire to loosen the boundary between self and other running through the collection. The poems feel like small vignettes of connection with speakers trying to bear witness and be witnessed (receive beauty and notice the receiving). Limón frequently asks "who got us here? Who allowed living to happen before and for me?" There is a lineage to our living.
Limón's poems also hold space for the more-than-human and the strange otherness of the non-human, their mystery and our wonder. Oftentimes there is a feeling of ongoingness, where the speaker has left the scene, but the scene will continue without them, where they can imagine its continuing, love and life and the world still existing and moving.
There are so many places where the sentence is on showcase as well: what can be shown or felt within the singular unit and how the movement happens, alongside novel phrasing and painterly images. One of my favorite collections I have read. It makes me feel full and want to reach out toward the world around me.
— Georg
“Poems about feeling, and what it means to feel too much. Ada Limón has once again released a collection of work that will make readers think, feel deeply, and revisit her work time and time again. This beautiful body of work is not to be missed.”
— Casey Zierler, Papercuts J.P., Boston, MA