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Oct 17, 2010

James rated it:

I came to Tony Hoagland in February snow. He's warmed my reading since. Discovering the work of a writer new to you--here a poet--is thrilling. Like new love. Returning each day to What Narcissism Means to Me was to quench the impatience felt before picking it up again, then to be relieved in its pages as it once again both satisfied and became the target of my devotion. Time after time, poem after poem, my affection for Hoagland and his poetry proved to be warranted. Too, like new love, h More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2011

Robert rated it:

Hoagland is the MFA system's answer to Amiri Baraka; a passive aggressive bomb thrower more interested in racial and sexual "getback" than the aesthetics of a poem. Structure, language, and the unique individual music one looks for in a free verse poem are sacrificed to an array of reactionary statements on race and gender that range from genteel ( " The change") to violent ("adam and eve"). Like Baraka, Hoagland wants the outside reader to not engage but submit More...

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Sep 20, 2010

Parksy rated it:

Made me interested in poetry again! Very good, contempory type poetry!

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From Publishers Weekly
"How did I come to believe in a government called Tony Hoagland?/ with an economy based on flattery and self-protection?" How indeed. In Hoagland's third collection, as in the previous two, his speaker devotes considerable energy to unmasking this vulnerable self, revealing its ugliness, hatred and social sensitivity in articulate detail More...

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Oct 25, 2009

Chris rated it:

Pretty torn over this collection which delights and frustrates me in almost equal measure. I could do without his ruminations on race and gender, but there is plenty to like here. Hoagland's American lives transpire before an everpresent scrim of advertisement and tawdry commercialism, and the struggle to assert meaning in that landscape proves fertile ground for him. Though the below may not be the collection's best example of this prevailing mood, I'm particularly fond of the prodigal tree. More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 13, 2009

Nic added it

So much of today’s poetry offerings focus on the look and feel of the grain of dust on top of the grain of coffee — real micro-stuff. And yes, I know, from the particular to the general, to the universe through the detail, etc, but one doesn’t realize how much one is squinting and frowning at all the detail and the micro-ness — how much squinting becomes a fact of reading poetry. That is, until one reads poetry that is much wider and bigger — (not sure I should not say, more generous, more unafr More...

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Jul 05, 2007

James rated it:

Here rests another instance where comedy reveals itself to simply be just sentimental realism; not that there is something that is "just" comedy. Despite what you might take the title to suggest, Hoagland tempts fairness, picking on himself as well as others: family, friends, popular music, enemies, trains. Regardless of whether narcissism is in fact "a heroic achievement in positive thinking," Hoagland's voice reads triumphant.

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Apr 26, 2009

Tina rated it:

Why am I the only person who doesn't like this piece of crap collection? It only got two stars b/c there were a few poems I liked, or liked parts of. But overall, I think the title goes beyond just being clever and really says it all: this collection is obnoxiously self-centered and self-indulgent. And I don't find the commentary on America particularly intelligent, considering that what he basically says is we're materialistic (no, really?) and like drama and pity parties. There's also some sub More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 16, 2011

William rated it:

Hoagland knows his way around a poem. To be published with a prestigious press like Graywolf, one must. There are times in Narcissism, though, where Hoagland acts like he doesn't really know the way, that he's lost in whatever musings he's making. Maybe it's a bit of bias, but I like work that's focused, where the writer has taken the time and energy to revise his poem for clarity, and allowed himself to cut the unnecessary baggage. In Donkey Gospel, Hoagland hit a home run with just about every More...

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Apr 06, 2011

Kristin rated it:

Tony Hoagland’s poems in What Narcissism Means to Me shows us that poetry can still be possible during anytime period and enjoyed at any age. He reaches into society’s current topics and ideas and pulls out a real unapologetic interpretation. As the reader and an American, we secretly enjoy him “calling us out”. He brings our unconscious opinions to our attention and by doing this unites the reader to the poem.

Something has to quickly appeal to me at the beginning of the poem to d

More...

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Jul 27, 2007

Ryan rated it:

Um. Don't normally read much (any) poetry, but yeah. It had always had the best title I'd ever heard, long before, you know, and finally picked it up and liked it, actually. Not just funny, but awfully smart -- it's good on "America", for whatever that's worth -- and the guy uses the word "breakage" in a way that gives your soul a tickle.

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Mar 06, 2010

Tyler rated it:

I don't know what took me so long to get to this collection. Thank you Meyerhofer for finally getting me here.

Donkey Gospel, as a collection, felt much tighter than this. I definitely like this more than his newest book because of the more personal quality of the poems, one of the main reasons I dig Hoagland.

The first two sections contained poems that didn't seem as tight as Hoagland can be. I like his narrative, here you go, type poems the best.

The last two More...

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Jun 25, 2008

carolyn rated it:

ahhhh I love Tony Hoagland's poetry. It speaks to my bones and makes me laugh and weep. I love the myriad of ways he describes sunsets: a stain of watermelon juice spreading across a blue shirt, like cranberry sauce poured over yellow hills, the sky with its inflamed clouds looking like it's got an infection.

satisfying

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Emily rated it:

Narcissism for Hoagland is shared quotes from friends and lovers. It is rusty sunsets filled with beauty unrelated to himself. In this slightly sentimental collection, Hoagland describes the need to leave yourself behind-- bury it deep somewhere amongst nature's distracting beauty, and forget how sad we really are.

"I knew that if I could succeed at being demolished/ I could succeed at anything".

"so Nature's wastefulness seems quietly obscene/ It's been More...

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Mar 01, 2011

Kayla rated it:

I thought this book was hilarious, particularly the first two sections: America and Social Life. The poems in the section Blues were the only ones I didn't really care for, but that's just because that subject doesn't interest me much.

Here's my favorite poem of the bunch:

"America"

Then one of the students with blue hair and a tongue stud
Says that America is for him a maximum-security prison

Whose walls are made of RadioShacks and Burg More...

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Jan 04, 2012

Christina Marie rated it:

What Narcissism Means To Me is a collection of four parts, loosely held together with an undertone of chatter, immediacy, and steady rhythm. Otherwise, the poems run the gamut from friendship to disease, from anecdotal memories to detailed current scenes of simple moments made important.

Hoagland uses vivid imagery and unique diction as well as plain, simple lines. While I enjoyed the book overall, I was pumped for the section entitled Blues. The collection moved slowly towards this b More...

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Mar 04, 2011

Zach rated it:

This is one of the first books of poetry I bought, but for whatever reason didn't read for years. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though I assume I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would when I first bought it. Hoagland's great, and this is an admirable collection. I think I was turned off sometimes by the poems that were particularly topical, too topical in my mind. I like my poetry to hover between abstraction and obvious relevance. At times, these poems stray towards the latter. A small More...

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Feb 16, 2011

Kelsey added it

Before reading this book I never realized how humorous poetry could be, In my poetry I would add a few funny lines, but never have I thought about writing an entire poem based on humor as Hoagland does. He make observations, many about the stupid things Americans do or say, and he writes parody poems, but what is most fantastic about them is most poems have something to be learned. I think it is hard enough to write a poem entirely comedic, but to also have somewhere to go with the poem and to g More...

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Apr 11, 2011

Rob the Obscure rated it:

Great stuff. Hoagland moves seamlessly from humor to depth, usually causing a short delay before you realize what has happened, and can write a love poem like they are supposed to be written - without any stickiness dripping from the vanilla ice cream cone.

He delves fearlessly into racism and stereotypes, gender issues, and issues of sexuality without a hint of preaching - only observation and insight.

He describes life for those living an everyday life in a way that is s More...

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Oct 17, 2009

Carm rated it:

I've read some pretty amazing poems by Hoagland and so I had big hopes for this book. What I discovered is something I already knew: when I read poem after poem by the same author they have less impact, less punch. Yet, I believe if I'd read one at a time, savoring each over my morning coffee, perhaps I might have fallen more deeply in love with them all.

Still I enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure at first. It occured to me that I probably should have read Donkey Gospel first, but I'd a More...

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Jun 07, 2008

Nikki rated it:

therapy for middle-aged white guys in vermont. blech!
that aside, it was okay. i like his conversational style of poetry. this i like, yes i do. otherwise, um, therapy for middle-aged white guys in vermont blech.
mr. tony tony is down on love. i like his down on love poems.
here's the one i liked. i ripped it off for a writing exercise. i will not share it here for it is of a personal nature and i don't want anyone to know anything about me. ooh secrets. how intriguing right?
More...

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Mar 11, 2008

Steven rated it:

Before reading this book, I had only encountered a few of Hoagland’s poems individually and read an essay he wrote about metaphor. One of those poems, “America,” was so moving to me that I decided to pick this collection up, as it includes that poem. Fortunately, it did not disappoint. Hoagland’s friendly tone and geeky straight guy persona make him a direct descendant of John Berryman and in a class with contemporaries such as Billy Collins and Dean Young. Like the aforementioned, hi More...

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Dec 28, 2010

Kasandra rated it:

This started out at 4 stars, but so many strong poems in the book made it a 5 by the time I was done. Definitely a must-buy (I got it from the library) for me. Hoagland is inspiring without being sentimental or overly wordy, and his sense of humor balances nicely with his wry observations about modern American life and loneliness and aging. He makes conversational poems sound natural and easy and effortless, and ends almost every one with a line that makes you want to go back and read each poem More...

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Dec 23, 2008

Marissa rated it:

Hoagland's poetry is familiar and strikingly sharp. His language and imagery are new and fresh, and he is able to show the reader the twist of life in the mundane. I really enjoy his outlook and, again, as with most poetry that I enjoy, his accessibility. One can read one of his works and "get it," and then read again and see more. That, to me, is the sign of a strong poet--one can enjoy the poem itself at face value and then see it blossom on each reading.

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Mar 09, 2010

"Terrence" rated it:

Tony Hoagland continues to shine in this collection of poems, all made to look easy and relaxed but full of precise surprise. This collection contains many masterful images such as one of my all-time favorites:

Outside the youth center, between the liquor store
and the police station,
a little dogwood tree is losing its mind.

Be sure to read Hoagland's Donkey Gospel, too. Neither is family reading, but they are genius.

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May 22, 2008

Michael rated it:

I had the wonderful pleasure of seeing Tony Hoagland read at a conference in Austin, TX, and I can say without exaggeration that it was one of the most inspiring events I've ever attended. It's a sad truth that at many writing conferences, one can experience almost as much disappointment as they do elation. With Hoagland, though, there's no need to worry.

Hoagland's work is gutsy, comical, dark yet hopeful, accessible, and tenacious in its quest to clarify the human experience. I imme More...

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Jan 23, 2011

Mairead rated it:

Poetry folks: am I right to say that Tony is the poet's Billy Collins? Observational, funny, strange but straightforward metaphor, lots of narrative, lots of conversation -- but better? (And I love Billy as much as the next begrudging person.) Not much that took my breath away, but lots of ideas I want to steal.

(I did love: "I turn against it like a record // Turns against the needle / That makes it play.")

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Mar 01, 2010

Abraham rated it:

Well, I rarely admit to reading a book just because of the title, but how can you resist a title like this? Unfortunately, the statement is attributed in a poem to another speaker than the author. Nonetheless, it does speak to the somewhat whimsical nature of the book. These are poems that you don't really need to read twice - there is no trickery in these and when prosody is engaged - little riffs of rhyme or consonance, it is done with levity, and not a little bit of sillyness. These poems are More...

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Nov 02, 2010

Ashlee rated it:

I rarely find a poet that I enjoy reading all of the way through but he caught me. I was entertained like the short, half hour TV shows I watch between school and work in order to properly numb my mind for a few slightly unpleasant hours at my job while he simultaneously makes me crawl toward a better understanding of whatever it is he has chosen to write about--which could be anything.

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Dec 17, 2009

Christina Marie rated it:

This is the first book I have read from Tony Hoagland, aside from poems collected in various anthologies. I think it's pretty good. It's profound and humorous and also beautiful. It's like, each poem builds delicate seemingly simple creative language into striking metaphors and an unassuming incident or character until they reach a climactic point, a single line of brilliant reflection.

It's a shame the book takes a nose dive midway through the third section. Enough to make me ra More...

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Sep 12, 2011

Andrew rated it:

More of a 3.61. I liked this more than 'Donkey Gospel' but not quite as much as 'Unincorporated Persons,' so it's a fitting chronological bridge b/w the two.

"And dying you know shows a serious ingratitude
For sunsets and beehive hairdos and the precious green corrugated
Pickles they place at the edge of your plate"

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