Review
Title: Fatal
Author: Kimberly Johnson
Publisher: Persea Books
Genre: Poetry
Year Published: 2022
Number of Pages: 82
ISBN-13: 978-0892555598
Price: Paperback, $15.95
Reviewed by Theric Jepson, August 2023
Johnson’s book composed on the occasion of her husband’s death consists of poems alphabetized by letter, each of which begins with the letter F, interspersed with alphabetized forms of American death, also beginning with the letter F (eg, fatigue), from the year 2001, the year her son was born and “suddenly, the whole world seemed fatal” (79).
The poems are individually successful, a few trends of form or content make veins through the collection. Although there were hints throughout, it wasn’t till “Funerals” that the (then) pending death of her husband took control of the narrative. I think that poem is the keystone of the collection (though perhaps this metaphor is off as it appears so near the end), providing the strength that turns all the other poems toward its power.
One poem that seemed particularly timely to me, having just seen Oppenheimer and as I am currently reading a John Donne biography, was “Fission” which discusses Oppenheimer and how Trinity‘s name was inspired by Donne. One section of the poem, in fact, is an erasurelike poem created from Donne.