Words like beautiful, graceful, and enchanting seem so contrived when reviewing Pamela Uschuk's delightful collection of poetry, Crazy Love. Full of intoxicating imagery and dense with metaphor, this slim volume of poetry is a deceptively heavy read. Pamela Uschuk has incredible creativity with words, painting some of the most vivid pictures I've ever "seen" in poetry. I absolutely loved reading Crazy Love, and will definitely be spotlighting Uschuk next year in the poetry feature on my blog.
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Pamela Uschuk uses melodious language in Crazy Love to drawn in her readers, sucking them into the depths of each poem and churning them in a tumbler. The collection is broken down into four sections and each appears to deal with a different aspect of love whether it’s the passion of “Crazy Love” or the eternal connection of love in “Hit and Run.”

From “The Horseman of the Cross and Vulnerable Word:” (page 3)

I was young and fell in love
with your wounds, your tongue,
half-song, half-glands,
strong as the Calvinist hands
that whacked and fed your swampy youth.
I was young and drank vermouth
while you fell to your knees

Beautifully, Uschuk demonstrates human love through bird and nature imagery, but she also draws parallels between the destructive nature of grasshoppers on crops to that of humans on the overall environment. There is a light and dark side to love and when love is too intense it can be destructive.

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2010/11/2010-green-books-campaign-crazy-love-by-pame... ( )