Dean Kostos reviews Old Ballerina Club in Rain Taxi.
“A poet at the height of her powers, Sharon Olinka knows that sound enacts meaning. She employs sharp and glittering sentence fragments to drive the pacing of her poems, as well as to suggest wounding. Olinka also examines the savage inhumanity to which Thanatos can refer, and here, a political aspect of her work emerges. Hers is a voice that persistently speaks out against social injustice. Despite all the darkness and suffering, however, Olinka always returns to what is life-affirming. In doing so, Olinka celebrates the creative aspect of Eros, and she makes Old Ballerina Club a triumph, honoring our shared humanity with all its various manifestations of suffering.” – Dean Kostos, Rain Taxi
