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70th out of 76 books
—
16 voters
Alien vs. Predator
by
Michael Robbins (Goodreads Author)
The debut collection of a poet whose savage, hilarious work has already received extraordinary notice.
Since his poems first began to appear in the pages of The New Yorker and Poetry, there has been a lot of excited talk about the fresh and inventive work of Michael Robbins. Equal parts hip- hop, John Berryman, and capitalism seeking death and not finding it, Robbins's po...more
Since his poems first began to appear in the pages of The New Yorker and Poetry, there has been a lot of excited talk about the fresh and inventive work of Michael Robbins. Equal parts hip- hop, John Berryman, and capitalism seeking death and not finding it, Robbins's po...more
Paperback, 88 pages
Published
March 27th 2012
by Penguin Books
(first published January 1st 2012)
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If, as Ezra Pound declared, poets are the antennae of the race, then Michael Robbins' antenna is tuned to many different frequencies simultaneously. His poems are densely allusive; pop cultural references intertwine with classical, historical and poetic in-jokes, often with hilarious and always with disturbing effect. There is something of the cut-up method invented by Brion Gysin and W.S. Burroughs in these poems; unlike the Gysin/Burroughs works, the poet's rhythmic sense and ear are everywher...more
The language in this volume is fiercely alive, a fascinating mash-up of rock n roll, media chaos, a touch of hip-hop, the kitchen sink. Robbins does a brilliant job with humor based on enjambment and the echoes of slogans from the mid-20th century on. Rhyming and off-rhyming in short poems, he keeps it moving and keeps you off-balance.
What I'm not sure of is what's at the core of his vision (or even if that's quite the right question--there's a bit of David Sheilds knocking about. At times, it f...more
What I'm not sure of is what's at the core of his vision (or even if that's quite the right question--there's a bit of David Sheilds knocking about. At times, it f...more
I should say, first of all, that I don't read enough contemporary poetry--and I say this even though I have a subscription to The New Yorker and The New Republic, both of which feature fairly good poems from current poets on a regular basis. So I bought this book because I felt the need to redress this situation.
It's hard not to notice a new book of poetry titled "Alien vs. Predator." At least, I had a hard time not noticing it, nor could I avoid the glowing reviews from people I respect and tru...more
It's hard not to notice a new book of poetry titled "Alien vs. Predator." At least, I had a hard time not noticing it, nor could I avoid the glowing reviews from people I respect and tru...more
The crazy cultural confabulations render the tender beauty of other lines even more so. I adore the humour running throughout these poems and the cultural reference points,especially the musical ones.The poems snowball, accumulating the familiar and weird as they build a deeply textured rich tapestry of thoughts, images and lovely poetic sequences. It's difficult not to admire and laugh at 'Dig Dug' for example:
In these United Arab States, Muslims
are elected wearing roller skates.
Erectile dysfun...more
In these United Arab States, Muslims
are elected wearing roller skates.
Erectile dysfun...more
I love music references. I mean I love them. Matthew Lippman recommended this book to me so had to read.
First, the title kicks ass. And Robbins kicks ass all the way from beginning to end. As I moved through the poems (because it sure as hell didn't feel like I was JUST sitting) I got closer to "getting it," like figuring out what is possibly making his gears move. I'm being vague. Because these poems, they are deceptively simple, aren't clear cut cookies, but oh so smart. You really have to pa...more
First, the title kicks ass. And Robbins kicks ass all the way from beginning to end. As I moved through the poems (because it sure as hell didn't feel like I was JUST sitting) I got closer to "getting it," like figuring out what is possibly making his gears move. I'm being vague. Because these poems, they are deceptively simple, aren't clear cut cookies, but oh so smart. You really have to pa...more
May 29, 2012
Megankellie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants to get out of their head
Recommended to Megankellie by:
i think the new york times or something
Impish, joyous, foul-mouthed weirdo who made me laugh so hard in a review I actually spent $18 on a book of poetry. The title made me laugh and the quote made me laugh. It's this one--
"I look into my heart and creep.
My heart is lovely, dark and deep
I kiss your trash. My boobs are fake.
I have promises to break."
I think a regular book lights up a path in your brain, like all the synapses make sense "okay, your grandma synapse lit up near your cookie synapse and your vacation synapse and old lady s...more
"I look into my heart and creep.
My heart is lovely, dark and deep
I kiss your trash. My boobs are fake.
I have promises to break."
I think a regular book lights up a path in your brain, like all the synapses make sense "okay, your grandma synapse lit up near your cookie synapse and your vacation synapse and old lady s...more
2 likes · like · see review
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The slew of pop culture references (at times amusing and clever, but often boring) which Robbins includes in his poetry make a challenge to conceptions of high vs. low culture, about "acceptability" in poetry (and thus in art and society). I think Robbins's poetry, which mixes rhyme, meter, and wit with TV, MTV, and diarrhea (literally), successfully makes this challenging, polemic argument, and often does so in humorous fashion. For example,
"Little Bo Mercy in heels and hose,
just under the wate...more
"Little Bo Mercy in heels and hose,
just under the wate...more
I am a huge poetry fan. I love edgy poetry, strange poetry, both the deep and inane.
I do not enjoy BAD poetry.
I can only assume Robbins himself penned the blurb about his poetry collection.
"Robbins's poems are strange, wonderful, wild, and completely unlike anything else being written today."
Strange, yes. Wonderful, no. These are poems that make absolutely no sense and make no statements about anything except for shock value. Borrowing phrases from pop culture--off-color ones at that--and stri...more
I do not enjoy BAD poetry.
I can only assume Robbins himself penned the blurb about his poetry collection.
"Robbins's poems are strange, wonderful, wild, and completely unlike anything else being written today."
Strange, yes. Wonderful, no. These are poems that make absolutely no sense and make no statements about anything except for shock value. Borrowing phrases from pop culture--off-color ones at that--and stri...more
3 likes · like · see review
The Short of It:
Sharp, edgy and bold.
The Rest of It:
I am not a regular reader of poetry. I read poetry in college and every now and then, I’ll come across a poem that speaks to me, but once again, just to be clear… I am not a reader of poetry. I often don’t know how to read them out loud, or on paper so what I look for, is something different from what I experience on a daily basis. I want to be disturbed (yes) a little bit and forced to think. I want to be shocked, but not put off and there is...more
Sharp, edgy and bold.
The Rest of It:
I am not a regular reader of poetry. I read poetry in college and every now and then, I’ll come across a poem that speaks to me, but once again, just to be clear… I am not a reader of poetry. I often don’t know how to read them out loud, or on paper so what I look for, is something different from what I experience on a daily basis. I want to be disturbed (yes) a little bit and forced to think. I want to be shocked, but not put off and there is...more
If this is modern poetry, I'm proud not to 'get it.' I would think Poems would have good turns of phrases, but beyond an avalanche of pop cultural references, there's not really much substance here. Maybe it's poetry that you have to hear to feel; the rhythms didn't speak to me at all. And I just had a negative reaction from the start, so putting the time in to try to tease out meaning did not seem a worthwhile use of time or effort. To those that find Mr. Robbins 'viciously inventive' or 'bruta...more
This book of poetry did not live up to its promise to be a sharp, witty social commentary on pop culture. Rather, it seemed like pointless drivel. The only poignant lines were the ones that were borrowed or reworked from other poems or cultural references. I could see where the poet was trying to create shocking moments, but they fell so flat because they seemed so forced. I love edgy poetry, but frankly, I'm having a lot of difficulty finding poetry that is actually edgy without seeming so inan...more
So Shane Anderson (below)is one of my dearest friends and one of the best writers I know, so it's interesting that we disagree so vehemently about this collection! I'm only one read through (picking up all the different references/allusions/play in the collection will take some time, based on what I've figured so far), but my initial impression was very positive for a number of reasons. The interplay between phrases I recognized from a billion different places (being given a court-appointed atto...more
This review is devoted to Michael Robbins,
and the acclaim in which he's baskin'.
Between pop culture and canon his head is bobbin'
but greater context is what I'm askin'.
"He will make your O'Hara stand on end!
He merges Ashberia with modern America!
Brings back Classic Koch and whips the rest:
On Atlantic, on Harper's, you're not so bazaar,
Robbins melts Frost and gives his asshole a scar!"
Excuse me from the land of bourgeois flaps,
of Collins and Larkin and university-press chaps.
I hear the music and...more
and the acclaim in which he's baskin'.
Between pop culture and canon his head is bobbin'
but greater context is what I'm askin'.
"He will make your O'Hara stand on end!
He merges Ashberia with modern America!
Brings back Classic Koch and whips the rest:
On Atlantic, on Harper's, you're not so bazaar,
Robbins melts Frost and gives his asshole a scar!"
Excuse me from the land of bourgeois flaps,
of Collins and Larkin and university-press chaps.
I hear the music and...more
Alien vs. Predator by Michael Robbins is a mixture of techno beats, pop culture references, and references to some of the greatest poets, including Robert Frost. While many readers of poetry would find his flagrant use of lines from songs cheap or as a short-cut, Robbins seems to be saying something more with the lines he chooses. He wants to comment on the superficiality of society; he wants to rip open the thin veil of complacency that we all hide behind to reveal the stark, dark, and painful...more
There are a lot of positive reviews for this, but I think I'll be the lone dissent. Swearing and mentioning dicks in poems isn't that new or clever, and neither are pop culture references. I think Michael Robbins was going for absurdity, but instead comes off as that jerk who was trying to prank their high school creative writing teacher.
I loved this book with an extra-flamey, white-hot burning passion. It is droll, funny, mordant, discordant and exuberant, and its enjambment makes fractal play with language. I want to hug Michael Robbins, as much as I suspect he'd hate that, for how much I love his book of poetry.
Michael Robbins, AM’04, PhD’11
Author
Alluding to modern culture—Guns N’ Roses, Star Wars—as well as the English canon, the poems in this volume make up Michael Robbins’s first collection. Robbins has been published in the New Yorker, Poetry, and the London Review of Books.
Author
Alluding to modern culture—Guns N’ Roses, Star Wars—as well as the English canon, the poems in this volume make up Michael Robbins’s first collection. Robbins has been published in the New Yorker, Poetry, and the London Review of Books.
While this poet definitely offends my sense of what goes with what, almost every poem had an amazing turn of phrase and every one caught my attention and made me think. But then he would through in something completely disgusting and haywire! I would probably need to read a few more times to start "getting" them and even then they seem so personal to the author that I am not sure I can. He reminds me of the video store guy in Men in Black who lives with his mom. This was one of my favorite lines...more
Jul 08, 2012
Nat
added it
While I was filling my dissertation in philosophy of language with boring-ass academic prose, my (then) downstairs neighbor was writing and publishing these poems.
Read my review pdf upstairs drinking coffee with the windows open, laughed a lot at "Sea World is all that is the case." A pretty good day.
In this case, 3 is an average; some of these were 1s and some were 5s, but none I was just whatevs about.
A great book of poetry that I would like to discover and delve back into again....
Best book of poems I've read in years. Poetry lives. You will too, if you read it.
Awesome imagery. And very quick to read. I read it during my lunch break.
I'm only giving this collection of shit one star in order to remind myself that it exists and is being read.
Aug 06, 2012
Ben Bush
added it
If anything seemed interesting or new-ish in this, it's the very odd way he uses rhyme in conjunction with line breaks. Easy glosses on the work might be "a hip-hop James Tate" or my own faux-Robbins line "cool hunters sift through Pounds' Cantos". Never read Cantos so I'm totally fronting.
Pop culture, pop music, self depreciation, egomania, obscenity, and history- these are a few of Michael Robbins' favorite things. In this collection Robbins draws on everything from Wittgensteinian aphorisms to Talking Heads song titles to odes to his own asshole, and somehow, some way, with turn of phrase stunt pilotry he reconfigures brows both high and low into something that is absolutely humorous and most shockingly affective and eerily moving.
flipping channels on the boob tube can write poems like monkeys do
1 like · like · see review
One of the coolest books of poetry I've ever read.
Smug, pretentious, and wholly unenjoyable.
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