The first poetry collection by D. A. Powell since his remarkable trilogy of "Tea," "Lunch," and
"Cocktails," a finalist for the National Book C... read full description
"Cocktails," a finalist for the National Book C... read full description
reviews
Aug 17, 2011
James
rated it: 
Jesus, this "barbershop talc" poem. It's about a certain type of overgroomed gay man, and it's so funny and brutal I want to quote the whole thing. The first line, "the only place left to shave is inside your ears," is right-off-the-bat really funny and suggestive: the gay addressee is advancing in years, maybe, and in denial about it. The line also implies a kind of tone-deafness or obtuseness.
OK and the last four lines:
"you serve yourself like a More...
OK and the last four lines:
"you serve yourself like a More...
Apr 25, 2011
Tiffany
rated it:
I read D.A. Powell's Chronic slowly; I felt like I needed to savor the poems. I found myself making notations on many of the poems, trying to label what was going on in the craft. Such amazing work with such detailed craft: sound, word choice, line endings, syntax manipulation, capitalization, punctuation, white space, not to mention the subject matter and importance of his voice.
I feel like I can really learn a great deal from him as a poet, particularly because with all of the pre More...
I feel like I can really learn a great deal from him as a poet, particularly because with all of the pre More...
Sep 17, 2010
Sps
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LJ said of these poems, "read them to see where poetry is going." I don't know; I wasn't totally impressed. Then again I may not be impressed with where poetry is going.
The illness and sex and death just seemed like shabby worries, an anxiety that I wanted to dose with anxiolytics instead of poetry. All the poems end loosely, without punctuation, which felt affected.
Many had wonderful long titles, though. I would keep the titles as brief poems in themselves an More...
The illness and sex and death just seemed like shabby worries, an anxiety that I wanted to dose with anxiolytics instead of poetry. All the poems end loosely, without punctuation, which felt affected.
Many had wonderful long titles, though. I would keep the titles as brief poems in themselves an More...
Jun 14, 2009
Rae
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I wasn't surprised by how much I loved Chronic, since I'd seen a number of these poems floating around in journals and had been looking forward to reading them all together.
D.A. Powell has taught me so much about how a poem relates or can relate to a page: what does not need to be finished, what does not beg punctuation, what kind of space a poem can offer its reader for present thoughts and tests. His poems are funny to the point of smartass, tender to the point of ache, and also - More...
D.A. Powell has taught me so much about how a poem relates or can relate to a page: what does not need to be finished, what does not beg punctuation, what kind of space a poem can offer its reader for present thoughts and tests. His poems are funny to the point of smartass, tender to the point of ache, and also - More...
Feb 22, 2010
Luis
rated it:
Never before have I stayed up to finish reading a collection of poetry. Though I don't really understand three-fourths of the poems, there's something mesmerizing and captivating to the images, the turns of phrase. It's funny too.
Mar 04, 2009
Amber
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I heard D. A. read from this new work in Chicago, and I was stunned/amazed then. And I'm not really a poetry person. When I returned to Portland, I went out and bought the book asap. I can read the title poem over and over!
Dec 26, 2010
Nicola
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Chronic illness, chronic pain, chronic life. This book, as its title suggests, is obsessed with time, and eros. A beautiful, edgy, important book. http://avl.arizona.edu/index.php?reading...
Feb 22, 2012
Bridget
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I received this book from Goodreads.com. I enjoyed the poems however I'm passing the book along to a friend who I know will like them even more. The book all together was well written and easy to understand, if D.A. Powell happens to write any further poetry I would very much enjoy to read it.
Aug 03, 2011
Sandra
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A master of line, each one straight-forward talk, a don't-play-with-me tone.
Jul 13, 2010
Kenneth
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Rarely do D.A. Powell's poems disappoint. In Chronic, not unlike his previous three collections, our weak, botched lives (the fragility of life lived, the difficulties of communication and connection, the infirmities of both body and mind) are rendered into beauty. Powell's poems remind us that the soul is, indeed, alone, but that the soul, alone and singing (and sometimes funny), is as unique as it is universal in its moments of unfair majesty. "[C:]larity never arrives," Powell write
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Oct 08, 2010
Ryo
rated it: 
I really wanted to like this, and I did at first. His talent is irrefutable, and when I felt him in more designy shoes, as in the more formalist poems in the opening pages, I connected more. But once he started engaging his subject matter, mostly, environmental and health devastation, I found the poems to move much less certainly, much too conscious of and forcing themselves toward the larger thematic concerns of the collection. Perhaps I'm biased against strong subjects in collections, but I'd
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Sep 06, 2011
Mia
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Because I continue to love "Cocktails," the first Powell book I read, so wholly and utterly and so, I will like never love another book by him as well. It's abiding: this early devotion.
Dec 10, 2011
Sarah
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Not sure why I waited so long to read this after the CPR release party... new favorite !!
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