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Customer Reviews (8)

Lerner is inspiring
Ben Lerner is fantastic at what he does and not only is his material fresh, but his approach at poetry is quite miraculous. Each time I sit down to write a poem, I think of his collection and how it inspired me to become more creative and flexible with my voice. This is a must-read. -->Ben Lerner<-- is way cool...A true artist and genius in his gift.

most important book of poetry in a decade
In the 1998 Hal Hartley movie Henry Fool a perverted garbageman writes a poem that becomes the "best selling poem of all time," eventually earning him the Nobel Prize. Ben Lerner is not a garbageman, but he holds a degree in Political Theory from Brown University, which is close enough to the script that he ought to be in line for recognition by the Swedish Academy. Lichtenberg is a sonnet sequence chloroformed by the lies and swindles of the English language circa 2004. I adore this book. I adorate it.

Check out some of its lines:

What am I the antecedent of?
When I shave I feel like a Russian.
When I drink I'm the last Jew in Kansas.
I sit in my hammock and whittle my rebus.
I feel disease spread through me like a theaory.
I take a sip from Death's black daiquiri.

...

O slender spadix projecting from a narrow spathe,

you are thinner than spaghetti but not as thin as vermicelli.
You are the first and last indigenous Nintendo.

COMPLEXITIES IN A SIMPLE STYLE
Lerner's sonnets are authentic explorations in an old form.Jargons and cliches combine with the poet's plain observations to illuminate a far-ranging curiosity...and a modern assimilating heart.

Go Figure
While Lerner's work has much in common with L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing--an interest in the materiality of language, in postmodern theory, in visual art, and so on--it also has the discursive precision of a more traditional poet--Auden, for example. The Lichtenberg Figures is one of those rare books in which beautiful and playful linguistic surfaces coexist with moments of sincerity.

new direction for copper canyon
This book signals that Copper Canyon has turned an important corner. Formerly more concerned with publishing established poets than with discovering new ones, Copper Canyon has now produced the most impressive debut collection I've read in twenty years. ... Read more

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By the author of Oilers and Sweepers, and Other Stories.Immensely moving --New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good book
I am reading the book for the second time, and I like it very much.
You have to read Dennison more famous book The Lives of Children, and
than reading this book, you will undersand him even more.

some good stuff, but not worth buying
this book is one worth skimming, and i skimmed most of it, actually read about 1/10th, and felt i'd gotten the essence of the book.

set in 1971.all about this "perfect" family in rural maine (seemed far from perfect to me) and some visitors they had for a weekend, one of whom was a chilean refugee woman (luisa) who'd gotten out of the country only weeks after the coup in which her family (husband and chidlren) were massacred before her eyes.the real essence of the book is how she interacts with this "ideal" and "happy" family, and the interest is in the juxtaposition of their comfort and happiness and her trauma and misery.it's like completely different worlds colliding, and where it gets good is how one man from the maine world, actually a visitor from new york, is able to enter the world of the chilean woman through his emotional piano playing.this part is fascinating...but remember, the fascinating part is just 1/10th of the book - and the rest is long descriptions about dull happy family routines and dogs and cider-pressing and pinecones.

i think this book could (should?) be condensed into a good 30 page short story. ... Read more

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Memoir. It is impossible to imagine what American poetryin the twentieth century might look like without the magnanimity ofthe late James Laughlin, poet and publisher of New Directions. AmongLaughlin's closest friends was poet Hayden Carruth, who served asauthor, editor, clerk, and typist for New Directions and, at a morepersonal level, "poetry doctor" for Laughlin himself. BESIDE THESHADBLOW TREE is the meditation of one great old poet upon the deathof another, upon two lives intertwined in various ways for half acentury. ... Read more

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Publisher: Harper ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good, but he's done far better.
Hayden Carruth, The Bloomingdale Papers (University of Georgia, 1975)

Excerpts from this work are the centerpiece of Carruth's Collected Shorter Poems 1946-1991, and rightly so; they are amazing pieces of work with a chilling sense of utter despair. Ever since first reading them thirteen years ago, I have been hunting for a copy of the full text. I finally found it.

The Bloomingdale Papers is a writing-as-therapy (assigned to him by the doctors) depiction of two months of Carruth's stay in a mental facility, after a nervous breakdown aided and abetted by incipient alcoholism. (This is back when the word alcoholism still had its original definition.) He was unresponsive to regular treatment, so the doctors, noting that he was a writer, told him to write things, so that they could get more of a handle on where his head was. (Carruth notes sardonically in the apologia preceding the poems that they didn't help one bit.) Rereading the manuscript prior to publication over twenty years later, Carruth despised it, in the main. He very rightly points out the effects that mental treatments (both shock therapy and drugs) have on the creative mind, and depicts the effort taken into getting each word on paper while in such a state. Unfortunately, in much of the collection that didn't make it into Collected Shorter, it shows. A good portion of this book is best described as workmanlike, almost devoid of emotion, with stultifying rhyme without any attempt at enjambment whatsoever; it's mindful of high school teen angst poetry, though Carruth has a far better eye for detail than most poets (and it is in evidence throughout this collection, which, had it been published at the time, would have been his first book).

Those pieces that work, however, are pure magic. The best portions of The Bloomingdale Papers are looks into the genesis of, arguably, the finest American poet of the twentieth century. They are worth the price of admission on their own (and with this book out of print so long that price is likely to be rather hefty). The argument against spending thirteen years of your life seeking it out is that much of the best stuff was taken for Collected Shorter, which should still be readily available. *** ½ ... Read more

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Musings and revelations about poetry, jazz, and the rocky course of one poet's life
... Read more

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Publisher: HarperPublication date: 1899Subjects: Fiction / GeneralFiction / ClassicsFiction / LiteraryLiterary Collections / GeneralLiterary Criticism / GeneralLiterary Criticism / American / GeneralLiterary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, WelshNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: New York and London, Harper ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

from the farm to the rust belt
In Asphalt Georgics, a significant shift in the setting and style of poetry takes place for Mr. Carruth.He had moved from rural Vermont to Syracuse, NY, to take a position teaching at the university.Unless I've been misinformed, the move was one of convenience, as the children of professors would receive free tuition.This poetry was the product of a practical time, when preferences gave way to necessity.

So how does this affect the poetry?For one, Carruth makes an effort to take on the subtle speech patterns and rhythms of Syracuse and environs.This is mostly successful, and not such a small feat.The unique rhythm lends the characters a reality that is both immediate and charming.But the main change comes in his approach.Carruth has been taken from a relatively idyllic setting to a city that, around this time, was rapidly joining the Rust Belt.The setting of Vermont hayfields have given way to strip malls and tract houses, which at that point had lost any sort of artificial lustre they once had.His characters of Spaid and Tanck are bemusedly cynical creations.Although Carruth always brought realism into his work, a deep disatisfaction with suburban and urban American life colors the atmosphere of the poems, and, if you've read much Carruth, you know that atmosphere is everything.I'm hesitant to call this book darker than his others; he's too complex a poet to simply write a "dark" book and a "light" book.But the book left me feeling more uneasy than his others, for what that's worth.

And any book which can affect you in such a strong way deserves a fifth star, I think.

Lamenting the decline of the wilderness.
Hayden Carruth, Asphalt Georgics (New Directions, 1985)

Asphalt Georgics stands well out from the Carruth corpus in that the whole book, every poem therein (of which there are thirteen), is written in iambic, either quadrameter or pentameter. Thematically, it makes sense, as much of what is here is a jaundiced look at the excessive civilizing of Vermont, something which Carruth has been despairing of almost as long as he's been writing. Never has he done so as eloquently as he does here, though there is some inconsistency in the quality of the work (however minor that inconsistency may be, as is usually the case with Carruth) and the repeated rhythm tends to make the pieces run together. More a book for browsing than for dedicated reading, but another fine one. *** ½ ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Hayden Carruth's books of poetry include Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey: Poems 1991-1995, Collected Shorter Poems, and Collected Longer Poems. His awards include the Lannan Literary Award, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
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Hayden Carruth, one of the most acclaimed poets of our age, lives his music -- finding the perfect low tones of terrible loss and high riffs of family and friendship.

"Carruth keeps getting better." -- The New Yorker

"Carruth's new poems are, essentially, songs of praise and celebrations of beauty; for all the real anguish and pain they record, they remain enactments of a fundamental attitude of faith and wonder." -- Times Literary Supplement (London)

"The elegiac gravity of 'Dearest M -- ,' on a daughter's death, refuses to release us until its final syllable." -- Library Journal (starred review)

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The master chronicler of nineteenth-century Vermont, rediscovered. ... Read more