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76th out of 91 books
—
25 voters
Selected Poems
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award
Paperback, 148 pages
Published
May 10th 1983
by Mariner Books
(first published 1980)
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Partial completion review of 11 March 2013:
Part of the reason I came back to goodreads was the idea that I would make brief notes on what I was reading and what the best bits of it were, and these would be preserved to be searchable later. But this is the kind of book that confounds me by being too consistently good. Every poem is quotable. So far the narrating persona tends to be a down-at-heel woodsman-type striding around heroically communing with the seedpods on the wind in a semi-rural sett...more
Part of the reason I came back to goodreads was the idea that I would make brief notes on what I was reading and what the best bits of it were, and these would be preserved to be searchable later. But this is the kind of book that confounds me by being too consistently good. Every poem is quotable. So far the narrating persona tends to be a down-at-heel woodsman-type striding around heroically communing with the seedpods on the wind in a semi-rural sett...more
First of all let me say I am having trouble with goodreads star rating system. I keep thinking 3 stars should be "it was okay" cause it is in the middle. Two stars, to me, means it wasn't liked, one star - hated. But I am trying to use goodreads ratings. So since this poetry book was okay - it gets 2 stars. grr.
Some of Kinnell's poems were truly amazing and some were pretty mundane - I actually began skipping. There is an occasional f-word (2 in whole book?) and some rare inappropriately crude...more
Some of Kinnell's poems were truly amazing and some were pretty mundane - I actually began skipping. There is an occasional f-word (2 in whole book?) and some rare inappropriately crude...more
This is one of my favorite poem in the collection. It was one of my favorites even before I had a child of my own.
After Making Love We Hear Footsteps
For I can snore like a bullhorn
Or play loud music
or sit up talking with any reasonably sober Irishman
and Fergus will only sink deeper
into his dreamless sleep, which goes by all in one flash,
but let there be that heavy breathing
or a stifled come-cry anywhere in the house
and he will wrench himself awake
and make for it on the run—as now, we lie...more
After Making Love We Hear Footsteps
For I can snore like a bullhorn
Or play loud music
or sit up talking with any reasonably sober Irishman
and Fergus will only sink deeper
into his dreamless sleep, which goes by all in one flash,
but let there be that heavy breathing
or a stifled come-cry anywhere in the house
and he will wrench himself awake
and make for it on the run—as now, we lie...more
Kinnell is a great poet; I don't see much room for serious doubt in this. He's not for everyone. He's not always for me. There are times when I am stunned, and there are times when I yawn. Then, there are times when I yawn, and then read the poem again 3 weeks later and am stunned.
That's the way it is with poetry, at least for me.
It's always risky to start playing with the language and trying to do something different. It's much safer just to keep to the rules and play it straight-ahead. I'm gl...more
That's the way it is with poetry, at least for me.
It's always risky to start playing with the language and trying to do something different. It's much safer just to keep to the rules and play it straight-ahead. I'm gl...more
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I've read this many times and just went through (my signed copy!) over the last couple of weeks. Kinnell is my favorite contemporary poet and well worth reading. "The Bear" is a poem to read over and over.
Mar 17, 2008
Cherie
marked it as to-read
I love this poem by Kinnel--I think of it everytime I pick black berries at the Hoeger house. I'd like to read more of his poetry.
I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden to my tongue,
as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words
like stre...more
I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden to my tongue,
as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words
like stre...more
I had fortunate opportunity to see Galway Kinnell read while I was an undergrad at Pitt, probably around 99 or 00. I didn't know a lot about poetry then and had likely never heard of or barely heard of him at that point in time. He was SPECTACULAR. Since then I've always recalled him and his poetry fondly but never read more than a poem of his here or there. So now I embark to read this book, I'm quite excited...
Finished the book: Was great. The reading was better but then I'm a bit of a sucker...more
Finished the book: Was great. The reading was better but then I'm a bit of a sucker...more
my favorite poet of all time. Amazing.
Though I liked only handful of poems on this book (to be a tad more specific, I could count the ones I dug into on one hand), they were quite moving and awesome, so the guy gets three stars just for those. I do wish I had liked more, but I just wasn't digging the earliest work. Sorry, Gally.
I like early Kinnell.
Jun 10, 2013
Sophie
marked it as to-read
Jun 01, 2013
Laurie
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May 24, 2013
LeeAnne ArtJunkie
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Apr 24, 2013
Lynne
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Apr 16, 2013
kia1234
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Apr 12, 2013
Kass-Kit D. Cooper
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Apr 06, 2013
Jan Petřík
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Apr 04, 2013
Greg
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Apr 04, 2013
KAR
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Mar 22, 2013
Bo
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Mar 15, 2013
Hannah
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Mar 06, 2013
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Feb 28, 2013
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Kinnell studied at Princeton University, graduating in 1948. He later obtained a Master's degree from the University of Rochester.
As a young man, Kinnell served in the US Navy and traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East. His first volume of poetry, What a Kingdom It Was, was published in 1960.
Kinnell became very involved in the U.S. civil rights movement upon his return, joining CORE (...more
More about Galway Kinnell...
As a young man, Kinnell served in the US Navy and traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East. His first volume of poetry, What a Kingdom It Was, was published in 1960.
Kinnell became very involved in the U.S. civil rights movement upon his return, joining CORE (...more
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