“A Bit Much” is Actually Just Right

“A Bit Much” is Actually Just Right https://ift.tt/R3ht2af

The début A Bit Much: Poems by Nashville’s Lyndsay Rush is effervescent yet pithy, sometimes poignant, often vulnerable, and sprinkled with sass. In this collection by the poet behind the popular Instagram account @maryoliversdrunkcousin, Rush describes her life through verse.

In her first poem, “In Florida, an Invasive Snail is Helping Save an Endangered Bird,” Rush shows that she has great instincts about how we are feeling these days. Her first lines are aware:

In Nashville, an artist is designing a T-shirt that says,
"Legalize Drag Brunch," and in Minnesota a bill is being passed
that will provide free breakfast and lunch for all students

“Safe Travels,” in which she says goodbye to her three-year-old niece, is softer, less pointed:

It’s the tight coils of her golden curls
her expressive eyebrows
how at certain moments she reminds me so much of my brother I could cry

Overall, her poetry is candid, sometimes sweet and at other times zesty. The poems are brief and breezy but not trite; they are accessible, versatile, and capable of spreading serious joy (her Instagram account lists her as a poet with the phrase “I’m having a great time” just below it). Generous is a descriptor that comes to mind. “Success is a pie with unlimited pieces,” she reminds us in “Good for Her.”

The collection, which revolves around the poet’s experience of being deemed “too much,” shows us not to care too much. It’s balanced and occasionally salty, as in “Heck Yes, I have an MFA: Major Freakin’ Attitude,” and we’re invited to feel liberated with her, joining in the freedom of being oneself, whatever that may mean for each of us.

Rush has a self-effacing style, as evident in “Mortifying Every Poet Dead and Alive by Trying to Describe Love,” but surprises by lyrically describing love with a visceral yet soft intensity. This poem is particularly beautiful.

Love is a perfectly timed inside joke
The first firefly of the summer
Puppy breath
Love is getting dressed for dinner after a long day at the beach

Because of her sense of rhythm and beat and her deft choices of word sounds, her poetry is effortless to read. I’m thinking here of “Shedonism,” when she writes, “You see, I’m trying to squeeze pleasure,” and we can imagine a delighted “squeal” as she’s squeezing pleasure into her day with this poem, appreciating herself and her time, not wanting to waste any delight in her day.

Rush is smart and observant. She bares her soul enough so that we feel empathy for her but not so much that she’s overly confessional, which in a larger collection such as this — there are more than 140 poems here — could become tedious. Each poem manages to grab attention without upstaging another. Hence, the collection is readable without losing any of its intelligence or feeling due to pandering.

A Bit Much is organized into loose but creative sections. One section is titled “When the Monster Turns Out to Be Three Dogs in a Trench Coat,” in which her poetry brings up that which piques, as in “A Race Against the Guac”:

Society tells women
that we are avocados;
ripe for just the teensiest amount of time

The section “When You Have Main Character Syndrome and Aren’t Looking for a Cure” features poetry that’s fun and unapologetic: the poem “A Little Bit Louder Now” opens with the first line, “Be the silly straw you wish to see in the world.” This chapter speaks to the title of the collection and encourages us to be “A Bit Much.”

In her final section, “When Someone Telling You to Relax Actually Works,” she writes in a poem called “Reassurances to Save for a Rainy Day”:

No one is mad at you. No one thinks you’re stupid. (Honestly, everyone thinks you're
hot.) No one noticed that one embarrassing thing you did back there and if they did, 
they already stopped thinking about it.

Her witticisms are mixed with wisdom and light surprise and are offered with such kindness that many poems had me pausing, rereading, and allowing the ideas and comfort to melt into my day. A Bit Much is perfect for picking up, putting down, and returning to. Reading can be incorporated into busy days. It’s also the kind of collection you can keep on a nightstand and read for both comfort and amusement before bed. Or perhaps it’s best enjoyed with a bowl of chips and a cocktail during a night spent at home, dedicated to self-care.

A Bit Much: Poems
By Lyndsay Rush
St. Martin’s Griffin
Published September 17, 2024