<![CDATA[A Night Without Armor : Poems]]>

false <![CDATA[A Night Without Armor : Poems]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171485027m/102331.jpg 102331 8 Jewel Kilcher was the first to admit that this book of 100 or so of her poems would not have been published if her dazzling debut album, Pieces of You, hadn't sold 10 million copies. And granted, Jewel is not going to replace Deborah Garrison's A Working Girl Can't Win on anybody's hit parade of serious poets who write for regular people. But--shockingly!--Jewel's book of poetry is solid by celeb-poet standards, and a fair bit of it is actually sort of readable in its own right. Maybe it's not a bad idea to raise your kids on an 80-acre Alaskan farm with plenty of chores and no TV, as Mr. Kilcher did. Unlike most young people, let alone overnight stars, Jewel has led a life of some intrinsic interest. While they're often prosaically straightforward, her poems about rescuing a newborn calf in the midnight snow, listening to wolves howl in a canyon storm, and racing naked out of a sauna of a winter evening bring us more useful experience than kid poets usually have to share. Some of Jewel's homesteading verse is no worse than some of Gary Snyder's late nature poems; though she'll never write nature poems remotely as good as his early work Riprap, neither will he, probably. Preachiness is the enemy of both poets' deep religious impulses. Jewel's poems about dumping a lover or thrilling to parking-lot sex "between the moon and a Chevrolet" are perceptive, at points even evocative. Her ode to her own breasts as a nest for her beloved is no good, but it's an honest failure. Her dress at the Oscars was more embarrassing. The music critics contend that Jewel's music is influenced by Joni Mitchell, though Jewel claims she didn't listen to her until lately. In comparing Joni Mitchell: The Complete Poems and Lyrics with Jewel's book, we find that both use the image of the cactus for a heart that resists a restricting embrace, but that Mitchell is cleverer with language. When Joni's lover is away, "Me and them lonesome blues collide / The bed's too big, / The frying pan's too wide." Meanwhile, Jewel baldly observes, "I miss you miserably, dear / and I can't quite manage / to face this unbearably / large bed / alone." On the other hand, Jewel does conclude with a nice image for toughing it out with a sentimental gesture--she shaves her armpits with his razor and cheap hotel soap. Ow! We feel her pain. Also, Jewel's "Underage" holds its own against Mitchell's "Raised on Robbery," while demonstrating the influence that probably outweighed Mitchell in Jewel's artistic development: her dad, with whom she played gigs as a child in Alaska. <blockquote> I hung out once in the bathroom of Trade Winds Harley bar in Anchorage With several biker chicks for company until the cops had left. They had pale skin and thick black eye makeup And they asked me to sing at their weddings. I said I'd ask my dad. We all sat on the counter and waited for the pigs to leave. Some guy OD'd and was outside foaming at the mouth. I remember looking in the mirror And seeing this white face, My shirt all buttoned up. The women were nice to me And looked like dark angels Beside me. I liked them, And together we waited Patiently for the cops to leave So I could go back out And join my dad up On stage. </blockquote> The great peril for Jewel, as for most poets when very young, is artless sincerity. Her poem about her dad's Vietnam War trauma is dead sentiment, but she does far better in "Grimshaw," about a Vietvet who came to watch the Kilchers play, perpetually requesting "Ain't Goin' to Study War No More" and drinking four quarts of beer a night until the day he shot his face off. Which made little Jewel vow to deal with her own emotions sooner rather than too late. Careless editing permitted Jewel to misspell the names of Tom Waits and Charles Bukowski and the word "peek." Most young fans won't notice, and the very poems about love troubles that older readers will find gratingly obvious will strike them as headline news to be taken to heart. --Tim Appelo 1808973 1998 A Night Without Armor : Poems total:704|5:6|4:9|3:9|2:4|1:3| 704 2290 842 101 1 2 false false Thu Jun 28 15:04:35 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 29 10:11:06 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon Jun 23 09:20:08 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 09:20:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Apr 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 16:27:20 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 16:33:10 -0700 2009
It worked.

To be fair, it's not all bad. But in these 109 (!) pieces, there are only a few that didn't make me laugh out loud, and not in a good way. Rarely have I read poetry s...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Fri Apr 03 22:16:38 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 03 22:18:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sun Mar 08 16:38:25 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 17:38:08 -0700 2009 Pretentious crap. Still, it's the most successful poetry book of all time. It almost makes me wish that every folksy pop star would put out a book of poetry, just so one of them compiles a better book of poetry.

Hannah Montana's "My achy, breaky heart." It would sell ...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jan 27 17:54:40 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 17:57:30 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Sun Jan 04 21:36:45 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 21:38:23 -0800 2009 I only hope that some day she will publish another one.]]> 3 0 true false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Fri Dec 05 03:17:32 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 05 03:19:35 -0800 2008 4 2 0 false false Mon Sep 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 17:26:15 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 20:49:25 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sun Nov 23 17:56:13 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 14:55:26 -0800 2008 countless my
geez
This is the best book of poems i've ever read!
so raw and honest
she really says it like it is!
i even got my senior quote from a poem in this book!]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Sat Apr 18 19:19:34 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 18 19:21:01 -0700 2009 i like jewel and her music.
a boyfriend bought this book for me.
i enjoyed her poetry.
most of it, some was pretty weird.]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 29 10:28:13 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 10:29:11 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu May 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 21:01:58 -0700 2009 Fri May 22 21:06:12 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu May 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 06:54:35 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 06:17:51 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Dec 24 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 00:15:38 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 00:17:16 -0800 2008 full of pain and love
with an underlying heart that beats with compassion
Much more depth than most of her songs]]> 4 0 false false Sat Oct 24 16:56:30 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 16:57:19 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Tue Sep 08 20:21:59 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 20:23:22 -0700 2009 1 0 false false Thu Jul 30 10:08:11 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 10:08:11 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue May 12 20:04:19 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 20:04:57 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Mar 11 11:40:38 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 11 11:40:57 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=102331