So Much Synth

Subversions of idiom and cliché punctuate Shaughnessy's fourth collection as she approaches middle age and revisits the memories, romances, and music of adolescence. So Much Synth is a brave and ferocious collection composed of equal parts femininity, pain, pleasure, and synthesizer. While Shaughnessy tenderly winces at her youthful excesses, we humbly catch glimpses of our own. From "Never Ever": Late is a synonym for dead which is a euphemism for ever. Ever is a double-edged word, at once itself and its own opposite: always and always some other time. In the category of cleave, then. To cut and to cling to, somewhat mournfully.