Review: Missing Persons Report by A.C. Dreher

Title: Missing Persons Report
Author: A.C. Dreher
Format: eBook
Publisher: Finishing Line Press
Publish Date: November 10, 2017 (Available for Pre-Order now!)
Source: Author

 

What's the Story?:

From Publisher's website: "I’ve never told details / of my train wreck rebirth.” So writes A. C. Dreher in her stunning debut collection, Missing Persons Report: Accounts from the Mushroom Cloud, but this “rebirth” comes not as train wreck but with all the strength and complexity of human endurance. Her poems are passion-stance vocal-visions of a young woman turning a sometimes-sorrowful past into primordial thunderclaps that accompany the fruitful rain of rebirth. And she demonstrates this endurance through endless affirmation: “the first rule of improv / is always say yes,” she tells us. These poems teem with both purposeful improvisation and affirmations of a life reborn with every breath. Their endurance is palpable, and through her startling images and perceptions, Dreher reminds us that “Love is like a test / we fall asleep and drool on.”
–George Kalamaras, Poet Laureate of Indiana (2014-2016)"

My Two Cents:

"Missing Persons Report: Accounts from the Mushroom Cloud" is a debut collection of poetry by A.C. Dreher. It's a gorgeous collection that evoked some pretty strong feelings in me (the best kind of poetry, no?). Many of the poems focus on relationships and how they drive us and the memories that we're left with after they are over. The imagery used throughout the poems is strong and left me with a clear picture. Dreher has a way of noticing the small things and describing them in such a way that leaves you with a new picture of a universal idea. All that you are familiar with (the feelings, the longing, the pondering) feels new and fresh again.

Many of the poems do have a sort of lyricism about them, which is wonderful and added a lot of flow to the collection. I do know that Dreher is also a singer/ songwriter so it was interesting to see that talent channeled into poems. It does indeed translate well!

I don't get enough poetry in my reading diet so this book was a perfect opportunity for me to fix that. This is a great collection for reigniting your love of poetry and for rediscovering its ability to give names to those situations so familiar to many of us! A great debut and I am looking forward to more by this author.

Here are some of the things that I loved about this collection:

Favorite Poems:

• The Evolution of Gills
• Chalk and Charcoal
• The Space of Fingernails
• Missing Person Report

Lines (I really could have picked so many more but wanted to leave you wanting):

Postcard from California

"The thing about adulthood is no one checks my candy for poison anymore"

Chalk and Charcoal:

if loving me was like trying to clean windows

with peanut butter and a baseball bat,

loving you was like trying to floss my teeth

with an industrial-strength laser.

 This is a relatively short collection so hopefully it is only a small taste of what we can look forward to from A.C. Dreher!