Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
45th out of 125 books
—
135 voters
First Course In Turbulence
by
Dean Young
With rapid shifts between subject and tone, sometimes within single poems, Dean Young's latest book explores the kalcidoscopie welter of art and life. Here parody does not exclude the cri de cocur any more than seriousness excludes the joke. With surrealist volatility, these poems are the result of experiments that continue for the reader during cach reading. Young moves f...more
Paperback, 112 pages
Published
April 1st 1999
by University of Pittsburgh Press
(first published 1999)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
252)
Dean Young was suggested to me by someone (a English/poetry professor) I met at a bar. She lent me three books, one of which was this collection, after finding out that I'm a big fan of Tony Hoagland. Little did I know that they are 'brothers'... at least as far as the acknowledgements are concerned. The poem specifically written about Hoagland and his lake was great as were about 75-80% of the poems. The 5 star rating comes not from the fact Dean Young's sense of humor hits the mark with me, bu...more
"After eroticism, suffering is my favorite subject" pretty much sums up Dean Young's poetry. I enjoyed these poems more than I expected to, all the while wondering why & where from I had any expectations at all. As I'm generally less interested in wholes than in parts, I found many lines throughout the book to enjoy. Here's one of my favorites, from "Sky Dive": "I forgot all I learned/ throwing myself from a practice flight of stairs./ It drove me crazy, the way she smiled/ at strangers and...more
Interesting repetition of themes: the poet as creature (bug or panther), The Tony/Mary poems, wearing the wrong clothes, mono-diets (first rice, then mashed potatoes), art, The French surrealists, Jimi Hendrix.
Each poem here has a new disjointedness, and the collection does too (as compared to Strike Everywhere, which was my most recent DY read).
"even the carpet/ is a tongue."
"I know someone could make a great weapon of me/ if only I was thrown hard enough."
"The problem isn't that you will bec...more
Each poem here has a new disjointedness, and the collection does too (as compared to Strike Everywhere, which was my most recent DY read).
"even the carpet/ is a tongue."
"I know someone could make a great weapon of me/ if only I was thrown hard enough."
"The problem isn't that you will bec...more
Dean Young is a good poet. Sometimes, however, I felt like the implementation of his ideas and his style fell short or stifled a poem here and there. Sometimes a poem would just not work for me. But, other times, everything made sense. The making sense was more common than the not making sense.
Had to read Tony Hoagland for class and hated him. Read an article by Hoagland about Young, and found via the snippets of poems quoted there that I would probably like Young more than Hoagland. Got this out of the library and found that I did.
With rapid shifts between subject and tone, sometimes within single poems, Dean Young's latest book explores the kalcidoscopie welter of art and life. Here parody does not exclude the cri de cocur any more than seriousness excludes the joke. With surrealist volatility, these poems are the result of experiments that continue for the reader during cach reading. Young moves from reworkings of creation myths, the index of the Norton Anthology of Poetry, psendo reports and memos, collaged biographies...more
Funny, sad, surprising, interspersed with wisdom. Always entertaining!
There's something to be said for poems that, by focusing on a singular subject, gain precision and insight. Not much of that here. Young rambles, and don't get me wrong he's a hilarious and lush rambler, but in the end I wish he take his talents and try something different and more ambitious.
When Leonardo is 11 and still sober,
he brings home a dead wren to disconnect.
His parents hope he is a genius and not
just another morbid little boy
-Dean Young, "Lives of the Inventors"
he brings home a dead wren to disconnect.
His parents hope he is a genius and not
just another morbid little boy
-Dean Young, "Lives of the Inventors"
Dean Young writes with a unique perspective. His poems move with a life of their own and make connections between ideas and images that are vivid and poignant.
Funny and sad and compelling. Young is one of the best contemporary poets writing today. If you get a chance to hear him read, then grab it, and prepare to be charmed.
Scott and I met Thanksgiving night over a poem in this book. They are so good, a romance can start over them.
I liked "Strike Anywhere" much more.
Reminds me of Billy Collins
Sep 13, 2007
Shaindel
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in associative poetry
Excellent associative poetry.
I love Dean Young...he rocks!
it's all voice and shroud.
Apr 15, 2013
Jaclyn Weber
marked it as to-read
Feb 28, 2013
Chidi OKORO
marked it as to-read
Feb 24, 2013
Alina
marked it as to-read
Feb 13, 2013
Nora
marked it as to-read
Feb 09, 2013
Crista
marked it as to-read
Feb 05, 2013
Kim
marked it as to-read
Jan 04, 2013
Jazlyn
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Dean Young is a contemporary American poet in the poetic lineage of John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, and Kenneth Koch. Though often cited as a second-generation New York School poet, his work also resonates with the Surrealist poetry of Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, and Guillaume Apollinaire, and if neo-surrealism has a poetic corollary then it is him. His most recent books are Elegy on Toy Piano...more
More about Dean Young...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“Go down any road far enough
and you'll come to a slaughterhouse,
but keep going and you'll reach the sea.”
—
8 people liked it
and you'll come to a slaughterhouse,
but keep going and you'll reach the sea.”
“Often beauty is disguised
by appearance just as music can be
by sound, the dreaming wish by the waking
wish until there's this terrible stress
because a thing must finally reveal itself,
break itself. Leaning shadow, cinder
heart, shouts. In Gorky's The Unattainable,
the line begins to free itself from any
utility of contour and becomes a trajectory.
One day, Gorky hung himself from a beam
but left us in charge of those ravishments.
Hello, interior of the sun. Usually alone
on Sundays, she won't get off until late,
the man steams rice because it's cheap
and easy and feels in its austerity poetic
like candles during a power outage
or trying on overcoats all afternoon,
buying none. ”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
by appearance just as music can be
by sound, the dreaming wish by the waking
wish until there's this terrible stress
because a thing must finally reveal itself,
break itself. Leaning shadow, cinder
heart, shouts. In Gorky's The Unattainable,
the line begins to free itself from any
utility of contour and becomes a trajectory.
One day, Gorky hung himself from a beam
but left us in charge of those ravishments.
Hello, interior of the sun. Usually alone
on Sundays, she won't get off until late,
the man steams rice because it's cheap
and easy and feels in its austerity poetic
like candles during a power outage
or trying on overcoats all afternoon,
buying none. ”
