Tinamarie Cox Reviews Record Player Life

See her blog: https://tinamariethinkstoomuch.weebly.com/blog/book-review-record-player-life#/

I had the pleasure of swapping poetry books with Rachel Turney this summer. (You can find her words on Through a Sea Laced with Midnight Hues with Turney Talks here.) Meanwhile, I got to reading Record Player Life (The B-Side), published with The Poetry Lighthouse earlier this year.

Her title poem, "Record Player Life," sums up the emotions and sentiments behind the book with a great line: Time is a circle moving round and round but never changing course. Throughout the book, Turney explores how life is in constant motion. Elements around her change, but ultimately she is undecided if she can remain the same. Her poems visit the past, the present, and even what the future could hold. She dips into different cultures on her travels, trying to create a space where she fits in while simultaneously experiencing nostalgia for the familiar. She is more than a tourist comparing cities and lifestyles. She is a philosopher searching for meaning and a sense of self, all while creating her purpose.

My favorite poems in this collection:

• Let's Get Lunch

• Lonely

• Cracked Open

• What I See in the Mirror

• What I Imagine It's Like to be My Husband

• ​Only Time