Bafflingly effective, this new collection of poetry from the winner of the 2004 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize seems too brief and blithe to pack so much ...
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reviews
Mar 13, 2009
claire
rated it: 
Just beautiful. I don't know when was the last time I read a book of poetry but this one was just lovely and I'd recommend it to anyone the least bit interested in poetry or just the sound of language well-put together. Here's the poem that got me hooked into buying the book, in the first place:
Hide and Seek
It's hard not
to jump out
instead of
waiting to be
found. It's
hard to be
alone so long
and then hear someone come
around. More...
Hide and Seek
It's hard not
to jump out
instead of
waiting to be
found. It's
hard to be
alone so long
and then hear someone come
around. More...
Dec 10, 2008
nolan
rated it: 
There are definitely--as the jacket cover suggests--ripples of Dickinson throughout this book:
One does not stack.
It would be like
a mouse on the back
of a mouse
on a mouse's back.
Courses of mice,
layers of shivers
and whiskers,
a wobbling tower
mouse-wide,
with nothing more
than a mouse inside.
This book is jaunty, and therefore, at every line break, risks coming off as juvenile. Somehow, though, it resis More...
One does not stack.
It would be like
a mouse on the back
of a mouse
on a mouse's back.
Courses of mice,
layers of shivers
and whiskers,
a wobbling tower
mouse-wide,
with nothing more
than a mouse inside.
This book is jaunty, and therefore, at every line break, risks coming off as juvenile. Somehow, though, it resis More...
Jul 25, 2009
Deja
rated it:
Prescription for reading this book: Read in a half-baked way, half-listening to your husband tell you about something-er-other, then leave on bedside table for, oh, six months or so. Then have insomnia for a month straight. Be in the middle of reading Good Morning, Midnight
but decide to read poetry instead. Then read this book at 2 a.m., and read it again right after. Then, because you still can't sleep, you'll be compelled to write this:
How does she do it? How does she More...
but decide to read poetry instead. Then read this book at 2 a.m., and read it again right after. Then, because you still can't sleep, you'll be compelled to write this:
How does she do it? How does she More...
Mar 03, 2009
Buck
rated it: 
I know, I know. Kay Ryan is the current U.S. poet laureate, which, in terms of street cred, is equivalent to your favourite little indie band winning a Grammy and licensing their songs to Volkswagen. It also doesn't help that she writes these itsy-bitsy poems that look, on the page, like W.C. Williams' discarded Post-it notes.
But once you take the (minimal) trouble to actually read her stuff, you discover that, under the girlish cuteness, there’s a very tough, very grown-up intel More...
But once you take the (minimal) trouble to actually read her stuff, you discover that, under the girlish cuteness, there’s a very tough, very grown-up intel More...
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Apr 20, 2011
Chris
rated it:
She writes poems that could easily fit into the margins of a page--short, wise, incisive, and witty. Ms Ryan has a light touch that belies the
reverberating effect her poems have. The simple, elegant lines and careful, well-chosen images make the poems easy to remember and easy to meditate on. Insight and reflection pours out of each poem like clowns out of a miniature car. Very often ironic and humorous, there isn't a better poet to read for the sake of living well. Whenever I want to gobbl More...
reverberating effect her poems have. The simple, elegant lines and careful, well-chosen images make the poems easy to remember and easy to meditate on. Insight and reflection pours out of each poem like clowns out of a miniature car. Very often ironic and humorous, there isn't a better poet to read for the sake of living well. Whenever I want to gobbl More...
Sep 01, 2010
Monte
rated it:
Things shouldn't be so hard
A life should leave
deep tracks
ruts where she went out and back
to get the mail
or move the hose
around the yard;
where she used to
stand before the sink,
a worn-out place;
beneath her hand
the china knob
rubbed down to
white pastilles;
the switch she
used to feel for
in the dark
almost erased.
Her things should
keep her marks.
The passage
of a life should s More...
A life should leave
deep tracks
ruts where she went out and back
to get the mail
or move the hose
around the yard;
where she used to
stand before the sink,
a worn-out place;
beneath her hand
the china knob
rubbed down to
white pastilles;
the switch she
used to feel for
in the dark
almost erased.
Her things should
keep her marks.
The passage
of a life should s More...
Apr 28, 2009
Ariel
rated it:
I read this because I was going to hear Kay Ryan read at the Herbst Theater. She is the poet laureate and has some interesting nuggets of wisdom-generally a bit of a sarcastic voice--quick witted and almost flip, but there is definite beauty there. Her poems are spare, short and specific to a moment in time. Pieces about her mother are beautiful-more profound than many of the observation poems--or maybe I just am not reading closely enough. She hides a little too much behind jokes and inferen
More...
Dec 12, 2011
Black Elephants
rated it:
Friend and I were having a conversation today in which she admitted that a Haruki Murakami book is her idea of literary foreplay.
Wait, what?
Let me enlighten you.
Said friend and I sat around a fondue pot, waxing literarily about David Sedaris books and how I should read more David Sedaris books, when said friend said that she hadn't read in awhile, which meant she needed to read a Murakami book.
I said, "Wait, what?"
And she said More...
Wait, what?
Let me enlighten you.
Said friend and I sat around a fondue pot, waxing literarily about David Sedaris books and how I should read more David Sedaris books, when said friend said that she hadn't read in awhile, which meant she needed to read a Murakami book.
I said, "Wait, what?"
And she said More...
Sep 15, 2008
aarthi
rated it:
Kay Ryan is dead on; economical; recurring themes remind you, she has been thinking and rethinking what are the only things to say that are true about self-preservation and comprehending Nature in a non-anthropocentric way - if that's possible. Some of my favorites from this collection (I'll let these clipped pieces speak for themselves):
The Well or the Cup
How can
you tell
at the start
what you
can give away
and what
you must hold
to yo More...
The Well or the Cup
How can
you tell
at the start
what you
can give away
and what
you must hold
to yo More...
Mar 02, 2009
Anne
rated it: 
Just not my style. I wanted to love her, being that she's the poet laureate and all. I loved a few lines. Overall, I felt like her poems had a template of sorts: all poems must have very short lines, all the exact same length, must include a smattering of strict rhyme to sound a little sing-songish, must be incredibly clever or somewhat witty, must attempt to end with a punch line. It was like she took poetry and squished it into a little scientific box and just couldn't break out of it. No
More...
Apr 27, 2011
Janet
rated it:
The Past
“Sometimes there’s / suddenly no way / to get from / one part to / another, as though / the past were / a frozen lake / breaking up. But/ not from the / top; not because / it's warmer / up here; it's not. / But from underneath / for some reason— / perhaps some heat / trapped on its own / for so long it’s / developed seasons.”
“Sometimes there’s / suddenly no way / to get from / one part to / another, as though / the past were / a frozen lake / breaking up. But/ not from the / top; not because / it's warmer / up here; it's not. / But from underneath / for some reason— / perhaps some heat / trapped on its own / for so long it’s / developed seasons.”
Dec 08, 2011
Punk
rated it:
Poetry. Kay Ryan has a distinctive style. Narrow columns, sneaky rhymes, twisting sentences ripe with parentheticals, and a last line that makes you scroll your eyes back up to the beginning and read the whole thing again.
She deals in the absurd -- chickens coming home to roost, literally; that sort of thing -- and the everyday, often at the same time, and with a kind of removed, wondering tone that really works for me.
Some favorites: "Home to Roost," "Carr More...
She deals in the absurd -- chickens coming home to roost, literally; that sort of thing -- and the everyday, often at the same time, and with a kind of removed, wondering tone that really works for me.
Some favorites: "Home to Roost," "Carr More...
Jul 05, 2009
Rae
rated it:
These poems are unlike most anything I've ever heard. I found myself reading them too quickly - since they're short, and often a single sentence or two, it's easy to read them as a chain - so I took to reading them aloud to slow myself down. I most enjoyed "Backward Miracle" (69), which seems to argue for the form of these poems:
Every once in awhile
we need a
backward miracle
that will strip language,
make it hold for
a minute: just the
vessel More...
Every once in awhile
we need a
backward miracle
that will strip language,
make it hold for
a minute: just the
vessel More...
Oct 29, 2009
Liam
rated it:
I agree with most of the positive comments, in fact while reading this collection I ordered all of Kay's available books to read next month. Very accessible while making us think about the simplest aspects of life that ultimately could have great consequences.
Jan 08, 2009
Larry
rated it:
I do enjoy Kay Ryan but better piecemeal. Over the course of a book these short, funny and thoughtful, but maddeningly one-note and too-too-clever poems begin to blend one into another, lessening the effect (and surprise) from reading each separately.
Aug 24, 2010
Prepare for the 2010 Poets Forum in New York City (October 28-30) by reading Ryan's newest book of poetry, and check out the Poets Forum 2010 bookshelf for the latest collections by each of the poets participating in the Poets Forum. Happy reading!
Feb 10, 2009
James
rated it:
The force of Ryan's short lines push me through these pages too fast. I must make myself slow down and wonder, read and process. Her images, strong and full of impact, weight like an anchor the brevity of her verse.
Jan 01, 2011
Maria
rated it:
Economical poems that read like brain teasers. Fun to visit and revisit. Bought a copy to give to my 20-something niece, because everyone needs a little poetry in her life.
Feb 03, 2011
Donna
rated it:
Although I enjoyed some singular poems in this collection, I didn't find it as incisive or as charming as Say Uncle.
The collection seemed less cohesive than earlier ones, and the poems that were the most effective focused keenly on single concrete images, while much of the book dealt too much in abstraction for me. With lines that lean toward 2 to 3 words in length, and poems that are usually not longer than 12 -14 lines, it was disconcerting when a poem would go three or four line More...
The collection seemed less cohesive than earlier ones, and the poems that were the most effective focused keenly on single concrete images, while much of the book dealt too much in abstraction for me. With lines that lean toward 2 to 3 words in length, and poems that are usually not longer than 12 -14 lines, it was disconcerting when a poem would go three or four line More...
Jan 08, 2009
Brady
rated it:
I got to hear Kay Ryan this November in New York. Extremely intelligent. I like her poems here.
Dec 19, 2011
Joan
rated it:
I have to return this book to the library without finishing it, it's due today. I love Kay Ryan's poetry and will continue to read her.
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(1 person liked it)
Apr 12, 2010
Sue
rated it:
I didn't care for the last Kay Ryan collection I read, but I really like this one. Beautiful memorable poetry.
Dec 22, 2010
Roopa
rated it:
Very clever short poems that twist and turn. Each poem needs to be read at least twice.
Apr 24, 2009
Rob the Obscure
rated it:
Wonderful poems of small bits of light.
I heard Ryan read her poetry a few weeks ago. As is often true of good poetry, it sounds even better when read, but is delightful also to read in silence.
These are insights into humanity that it would be well worth the time to explore.
I heard Ryan read her poetry a few weeks ago. As is often true of good poetry, it sounds even better when read, but is delightful also to read in silence.
These are insights into humanity that it would be well worth the time to explore.
Jun 15, 2008
Chris
rated it:
This is my 4th book of Kay Ryan's poetry. I could put it on my 'read' shelf and my 'currently reading' shelf. No other poet can put so much into so few words.
"We expect rain
to animate this
creek: these rocks
to harbor gurgles,
these pebbles to
creep downstream
a little,
. . .
but no rain yet."
"As though
the river were
a floor, we position
our table and chairs
upon it, eat, and
have conversatio More...
"We expect rain
to animate this
creek: these rocks
to harbor gurgles,
these pebbles to
creep downstream
a little,
. . .
but no rain yet."
"As though
the river were
a floor, we position
our table and chairs
upon it, eat, and
have conversatio More...
Jul 27, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
Love the WONDER of her poetry...and the extremely varied selection of topics that she chooses. To the next reader--take good care of Kay. :)
Dec 16, 2009
nicebutnubbly
rated it:
Home To Roost
The chickens
are circling and
blotting out the
day. The sun is
bright, but the
chickens are in
the way. Yes,
the sky is dark
with chickens,
dense with them.
They turn and
then then turn
again. These
are the chickens
you let loose
one at a time
and small ––
various breeds.
Now they have
come home
to roost –– all
the same kind
at the same speed.
The chickens
are circling and
blotting out the
day. The sun is
bright, but the
chickens are in
the way. Yes,
the sky is dark
with chickens,
dense with them.
They turn and
then then turn
again. These
are the chickens
you let loose
one at a time
and small ––
various breeds.
Now they have
come home
to roost –– all
the same kind
at the same speed.
Nov 08, 2007
Paula
rated it:
Kay Ryan's poems, like those of Dickinson, are little gems that seem to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. How can 10 very short lines expose and explore such extensive territory? She shows how the biggest, most abstract metaphysical questions really lie just beside our most intimate, personal doubts and convictions. I suggest reading this collection in one sitting.
