Walking the Black Cat
by Charles Simic
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Read in November, 2003
Charles Simic, Walking the Black Cat (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1996)
Pulitzer Prizewinning author Charles Simic is to dada what Clayton Eshleman is to surrealism; he's pretty much the sole light keeping it alive in the world of poetry in the present day. Simic, a hardcore imagist, is wonderfully precise in his use of concrete detail, which he then pulls completely out of the realm of reality by juxtaposing things which have no business being next to one another. Walking the Black Cat, a final...more
Pulitzer Prizewinning author Charles Simic is to dada what Clayton Eshleman is to surrealism; he's pretty much the sole light keeping it alive in the world of poetry in the present day. Simic, a hardcore imagist, is wonderfully precise in his use of concrete detail, which he then pulls completely out of the realm of reality by juxtaposing things which have no business being next to one another. Walking the Black Cat, a final...more
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If you read this tiny collection, you will discover why Simic is the poet laureate of the U.S.
Pay special attention to, "What The Gypsies Told My Grandmother When She Was Still A Young Girl."
The imagery is breathtaking. Sample:
"War, illness, and famine with make you their favorite grandchild./ You will be like a blind person watching a silent movie./ You will chop onions and pieces of your heart into the same hot skillet./...You will envy every ant you meet in your life and ...more
Pay special attention to, "What The Gypsies Told My Grandmother When She Was Still A Young Girl."
The imagery is breathtaking. Sample:
"War, illness, and famine with make you their favorite grandchild./ You will be like a blind person watching a silent movie./ You will chop onions and pieces of your heart into the same hot skillet./...You will envy every ant you meet in your life and ...more
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While not my favorite poet, though he certainly does have quite a few pieces that resonate with me, Simic is a poet I really, really admire. His work is exceptionally well-crafted. Not a word or punctuation mark is wasted. I've read here some reviews that call his work unapproachable and mention its dadaism, and I guess all those are true, but none of those terms came to me when I was thinking about my review. He's an amazing wordsmith, an amazing poetic artist. He can really craft one hell of p...more
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I read this series of poems a while ago and recommend it to Andy. Yesterday Simic became the poet laureate. He is more serious then Billy Collins but not as popular or approachable. I still have an image of children in the yard around a fire burning in the barrel.
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I like surreal, but this is bad surreality, like to the point of fishsticks laughing songbird Jesus rhinos.
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Read in June, 1999
recommended to Jennifer by:
bought it @ B&N before flight to Taipeirecommends it for: superstitious people
My first Simic collection. Liked his usage of folkloric symbolism and imagery, reminiscent of Slavic superstitions and Gypsy lore, wartime suspicions. Evokes primeval thoughts of black magic.
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I randomly purchased this at fifteen. And loved it. Underlined it. I still like it. Then again, I had a bukowski thing going on around then as well.
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