Blue California Sky
B. L. Bruce
Finishing Line Press (2024)
Reviewed for Reader Views by Jennifer Bisbing (05/2024)
It is striking how universal grief is and how many layers of it Bri Bruce weaves into this short collection of poems called “Blue California Sky.” Chapbooks usually have a central theme and tackling such a large one as Bruce does, and pulling it off in so few pages, is no small feat. And in such short poems. Not quite haiku short but they carry a heavy load in a small amount of space on the page. Bruce may help drive home the themes by repeating the title in the first line. Many poets love anaphora for its ability to make one line or phrase more memorable. It works well for Bruce’s brief style.
Bruce doesn’t just look at her own deep relationship with grief, but her work hits a cord about how many levels of grief there can be. How tragic loss, be it the death of a loved one or fire raging through and taking your home, is clothed in different outfits. Bruce takes a different look at fire season in her poem “So Much Was Lost In the Heat Wave,” which shows the annihilation of lush land’s far-reaching impact. This collection isn’t a news report, it is life. Maybe not the details of everyone’s life, but what pulls this collection close to home is that we all know someone who has sat as Bruce has with the feelings and emotions of our inescapable suffering.
As quickly as you are wrapped up in tragedy, Bruce’s vision settles the ambers from the fire with wonder for the natural world and deep connection with ourselves and others, and with a dose of hope to rebuild—
I plant
and replant the same barren mounds.
This wonder is especially notable in her poem “I Find It Curious,” which ends with a glimmer of beauty:
I find it curious what we remember about our traumas. Blue tile the
color of a robin’s egg. White sofa with blue stripes. Blue braided
wool rug. Blue glass. Agapanthus. Everything blue. The sky was so blue
that day, and reflected in your eyes.
Don’t skip over Bruce’s poem “Once Each Year,” which is included in this collection. It was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2022 and won first prize in the 2023 Los Gatos Poetry Contest. B.L. Bruce’s collection, “Blue California Sky” will appeal to poetry lovers, especially those who prefer poems about nature, and to fans of the beauty of California.
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