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The Best of It: New and Selected Poems

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 · rating details · 541 ratings · 90 reviews

Kay Ryan, named the Pulitzer Prize Winner for Poetry 2010, is just the latest in an amazing array of accolades for this wonderfully accessible, widely loved poet. She was appointed the Library of Congress’s sixteenth poet laureate from 2008 to 2010. Salon has compared her poems to �Fabergé eggs, tiny, ingenious devices that inevitably conceal some hidden wonder.” The two h...more

Hardcover, 265 pages

Published March 23rd 2010 by Grove Press (first published February 8th 2010)

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Dec 17, 2012 s.penkevich rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to s.penkevich by: Scott

Shelves: poet_laureate, poetry

The Best of It collects new and selected poems from sixteenth US Poet Laureate Kay Ryan’s career covering 1993-2005. A highly decorated poet, Ryan teaches English at the College of Marin in California (her partner Carol Adair also taught there until her death in 2009) and has released eight collections of poetry. Ryan write tight little poems teeming with figurative language and marching to a rhythmic beat to emphasize her rhyme schemes that marries the traditional poetry styles of old with mode...more The Best of It collects new and selected poems from sixteenth US Poet Laureate Kay Ryan’s career covering 1993-2005. A highly decorated poet, Ryan teaches English at the College of Marin in California (her partner Carol Adair also taught there until her death in 2009) and has released eight collections of poetry. Ryan write tight little poems teeming with figurative language and marching to a rhythmic beat to emphasize her rhyme schemes that marries the traditional poetry styles of old with modern poetry.

The Edges of Time
It is at the edges
that time thins.
Time which had been
dense and viscous
as amber suspending
intentions like bees
unseizes them. A
humming begins,
apparently coming
from stacks of
put–off things or
just in back. A
racket of claims now,
as time flattens. A
glittering fan of things
competing to happen,
brilliant and urgent
as fish when seas
retreat.

Ryan often takes a small, specific idea or moment, and unlocks a quick insight, offering a surprising amount of depth from such a small idea and in such small paper space. While her poems rarely exceed a few short lines, they are filled with poetic devices and charge forward to the rhythmic quality of her words. She fuses her techniques together so well that it is difficult to tell which device was the ultimate goal for the poem, all of them working together in unison to create a brief immaculate image. This rhythm, often iambic, gives the poetry an older feel to it, and allows her to construct interesting rhyme structures. Many of her rhymes are interior rhymes that are brought out and highlighted by the rhythm of her words.

Atlas
Extreme exertion
isolates a person
from help,
discovered Atlas.
Once a certain
shoulder-to-burden
ratio collapses,
there is so little
others can do:
they can’t
lend a hand
with Brazil
and not stand
on Peru.

I must admit, however, that the rhythm and rhymes of her poetry is my greatest complain with it. It is cute and fun at times, but it is often too much. The rhyming to her poems is like eating a piece of cake with frosting so rich that you cannot take more than a few bites without feeling sick. Much of her poetry is playful and witty, while always retaining an overall seriousness to the poem, yet the playfulness did not charm me the way it does with, say, Billy Collins. I hate to say it, but reading this reminded me of why I love Collins and I felt that Ryan pales in comparison. However, that is not a fair comparison to make, as both poets have radically different styles and goals, but all in all I prefer Collins. There were some very touching poems in here, and several that did grab me. For example, I loved her poem on Hide & Seek, which really reminded me of my 2 year old daughter and her current ‘hiding method’ of standing in the middle of the room with a blanket over her head yelling ‘Where Tilly go?!’:

Hide & 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. It’s
like some form
of skin’s developed
in the air
that, rather
than have torn,
you tear.

Ryan does take a fun look at poetry as an art form and often uses it as a commentary on other poets. A good quarter of the poems contained in this collection begin with the quote to which they are either inspired by, or in response to. Marianne Moore, Annie Dillard, and Joseph Brodsky are the most common writers spoken to through poetry, and there are several poems based on facts from Ripely’s Believe It Or Not!, such as her poem on stage productions or her poem about Matrigupta (Matrigupta wrote a poem that so pleased Rajah Vicraama Ditya that he was given the state of Kashmir for his efforts, which he ruled from 118-123 until abdicating to become a recluse). She even dedicates a poem to W.G. Sebald:

He Lit a Fire With Icicles
This was the work
of St. Sebolt, one
of his miracles:
he lit a fire with
icicles. He struck
them like a steel
to flint, did St.
Sebolt. It
makes sense
only at a certain
body heat. How
cold he had
to get to learn
that ice would
burn. How cold
he had to stay.
When he could
feel his feet
he had to
back away.

Her commentary on language, translation and poetry in general are some of the best aspects of this collection.

Poetry is a Kind of Money
Poetry is a kind of money
whose value depends upon reserves.
It’s not the paper it’s written on
or its self-announced denomination,
but the bullion, sweated from the earth
and hidden, which preserves its worth.
Nobody knows how this works,
and how can it? Why does something
stacked in some secret bank or cabinet,
some miser’s trove, far back, lambent,
and gloated over by its golem, make us
so solemnly convinced of the transaction
when Mandelstam says love, even
in translation?

As a sort of ‘best of’, this collection left me a bit underwhelmed. There were some wonderful and touching poems, but much did not particularly grab me. I can see why many people would really enjoy her poetry, and reading a bit about her life reveals an impressive woman with a wonderful mind, but this just fell a bit flat for me. I did enjoy her method of blending the traditional with the modern, and the way her poem often spoke to the title, either allowing the title to be the actual first lines, or to posit and idea that the poem would then look up to the top of the page at and deconstruct. It was the rhyming and overly bouncy rhythm that wore thin on me, which happened in far too many poems. Which may be a point of personal pretention as I don’t mind rhyming in older poems, but in these it just felt, well, cheesy and often times forced. It occasionally played out in my head like corny rap lyrics that would be sung over preset Casio beats. This is still a great collection to sample however, and if you enjoy rhyming poetry you might end up adoring Kay Ryan. She is deserving of praise.
3/5

Failure
Like slime
inside a
stagnant tank

its green
deepening
from lime
to emerald

a dank
but less
ephemeral
efflorescence

than success
is in general.

The Best of It
However carved up
or pared down we get,
we keep on making
the best of it as though
it doesn’t matter that
our acre’s down to
a square foot. As
though our garden
could be one bean
and we’d rejoice if
it flourishes, as
though one bean
could nourish us.

Among English Verbs
Among English verbs,
"to die" is oddest in its
eagerness to be "dead",
immodest in its
haste to be told-
a verb alchemical
in the head:
one speck of its gold
and a whole life's lead.

Green Hills
Their green flanks
and swells are not
flesh in any sense
matching ours,
we tell ourselves.
Nor their green
breast nor their
green shoulder nor
the languor of their
rolling over.

(less)

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Jul 26, 2011 Jesse rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-lit, favorites, contemporary, poetry, on-our-bookshelf

Along with Anne Carson, Kay Ryan has long been my favorite contemporary poet, so I was pleased to see her become our Poet Laureate a few years back, and then delighted to attend a reading and lecture last year, which is where I picked up this collection. She signed it "for Jesse from the San Joaquin," as I had asked her where exactly she had grown up, and the location turned out to be as small and unknown as my own hometown (though only about 45 minutes apart, neither of us had heard of the othe...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Joan Winnek rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm going to return this book to the library, then request it again. A list of poems I especially like: Shift, Spiderweb, Leaving Spaces, Force, Persiflage, Caught. And here is a short poem that exemplifies what I like about Kay Ryan.

EMPTINESS

Emptiness cannot be
compressed. Nor can it
fight abuse. Nor is there
an endless West hosting
elk, antelope, and the
tough cayuse. This is
true also of the mind:
it can get used.

3/31/12
I love this book so much that it's hard to mark it read, as I'm sure it will sta...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Tristan rated it 1 of 5 stars

I bought this book solely based on the first poem, "Odd Blocks," because it had a lot of depth to it, a ton of metaphor and distinction and self-awareness that makes you think about all those "monuments to randomness." Beautiful, thoughtful, poignant; couldn't ask for a better poem. I was surprised! Why had I never heard of this Kay Ryan before? Indeed, after buying it I was going to write a review which began, "It's rare that you feel you got your entire money's worth from a book just on the fi...more I bought this book solely based on the first poem, "Odd Blocks," because it had a lot of depth to it, a ton of metaphor and distinction and self-awareness that makes you think about all those "monuments to randomness." Beautiful, thoughtful, poignant; couldn't ask for a better poem. I was surprised! Why had I never heard of this Kay Ryan before? Indeed, after buying it I was going to write a review which began, "It's rare that you feel you got your entire money's worth from a book just on the first page."

Unfortunately that turned out to be a all too true. Little did I know that the rest of Kay Ryan's poems did not follow in the footsteps of this one. Most often they are subtle observations, but not simple in a good way, it's the simplicity on *this* side of complexity if you catch my drift; simplicity without meaning, simplicity without understanding, and a rhyme here and there almost as if it were the purpose. I initially spent a great deal of time looking, searching, digging; trying to find anything under the surface of each poem. Eventually I gave up. Oh yes, that's a tree. And now you're writing about your pen, and just your pen, oh and how your pen writes, and how one once compared it to a sword (oh, never read that before). Apologies for being cynical, but I really tried, and couldn't find, any value in most of these poems. They just left me with sort of a "huh" feeling, and eventually as though I had wasted my time. There are a lot of great poets out there elucidating ideas you never knew existed in ways you never thought possible, and they are worth your time; Kay Ryan appears to be a simple poet shedding light on what is already lit in tried and true ways. What's the point?

Except for in that first one. And you can read it right on Amazon or Google Books. "Odd Blocks" is the best, and only good poem in this entire collection. Save your money and just read that one. Almost makes me wonder if she stumbled on that metaphor by mistake. If she were trying surely she would have succeeded a good three or four more times, but that's not the case in this collection. Very unfortunate.(less)

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Dec 22, 2010 Jason rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

Glaciers, ribbons, thieves. These are the reoccurring images from Ryan's poetry that stuck with me after reading this "best of" collection.

For my taste, Ryan's poems are too philosophical in nature. Most lack driving images. It's like she's musing about life, breaking the lines after every other words and tossing in slant rhymes like Dickinson and normal rhymes like Frost. Ryan's poems are like little bitty nuggets. As soon as they start, they are over. Few of her poems have a turn.

Too many time...more

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Apr 16, 2010 Mike Lindgren rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

The poems in Kay Ryan's astonishing collection "The Best of It: New and Selected Poems" are so crisp and immediate that they seem effortless. It is only upon closer inspection that these little miracles of compression begin to give up their secrets, their engaging surfaces gradually yielding ever more layers of nuance.

Ryan's verse reminds one not so much of conventional narrative poems as of some cunningly made artifacts, like those tiny Russian nesting dolls, or an exquisite enameled box that,...more The poems in Kay Ryan's astonishing collection "The Best of It: New and Selected Poems" are so crisp and immediate that they seem effortless. It is only upon closer inspection that these little miracles of compression begin to give up their secrets, their engaging surfaces gradually yielding ever more layers of nuance.

Ryan's verse reminds one not so much of conventional narrative poems as of some cunningly made artifacts, like those tiny Russian nesting dolls, or an exquisite enameled box that, unsprung, yields an interior vista of startling clarity.

"The Best of It" collects four previous volumes, going back to 1994, and adds 24 new poems. The trajectory of a poet's career in this country, today, does not usually conform to a smooth, triumphalist incline, so it is satisfying to know that Kay Ryan is serving as the U.S. Poet Laureate -- a kind of ambassador for the art.

Taken as a whole, "The Best of It" displays an astounding consistency of tone and quality, with the later work and the new poems perhaps shading a bit toward an elegant midcareer austerity.

One of the many charms here is accessibility: the poems tend toward the bite-size (only a few spill over onto a second page), and their initial effect is of a pleasing briskness, free of the dense opacity and deliberate "difficulty" that makes so much contemporary poetry into the readerly equivalent of a trip to the dentist.

Ryan crafts startling rhymes ("hibiscus / to kiss," and "cracked / exact") and jittery rhythms that often stop short or feature a stress falling on an unexpected syllable, with a sideways hop. They are little exploders of cliche: "A bitter pill doesn't need to be swallowed to work," begins one, while waiting for "The Other Shoe" to drop wouldn't be so bad "if the undropped / didn't congregate / with the undropped . . . acquiring density / and weight."

This is not to say that Ryan's poems are glib or facile; on the contrary, they often address abstractions and proclaim paradoxes with vigor, as in "Forgetting":"Forgetting takes space. Forgotten matters displace / as much anything else as / anything else." For all their colloquial style and down-home wit, Ryan's poems tend to circle deeply philosophical issues."Whatever is done," states one, "leaves a hole in the / possible." Ryan's words mirror her mind, in the sense that both are quick and idiosyncratic, likely to land on the unlikely but inspired thought.

These gifts call to mind some illustrious predecessors, including Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore and Robert Frost. Despite the echoes, though, Ryan is so arresting and genuinely original that her book stays in the mind in a way unlike much contemporary poetry, so often impenetrable and self-absorbed. In today's world of exploding self-expression and relentless ephemera, Kay Ryan sticks.

FROM THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER, April 13, 2010.(less)

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Jul 13, 2011 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lets face it, poetry is the wheat grass juice of literature. Everyone says that it's great for you (and it is) but it smells like your lawn and tastes like gritty pond scum.

When someone wants to look too smart for the room, poetry is the stick they beat you with. When someone wants to show how dramatic, artsy and depressed they are, it's the prop of choice. Emo kids love it. As do the elderly.

For me, poetry was in the same catagory as the advanced Maths: I know they exist and I'm sure someo...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Elpy rated it 5 of 5 stars

While I have not read this collection in its entirety, instead I tend to pick at the book from time to time, savoring poems like snacks, I really enjoy Kay Ryan's work. I am sad to say that I did not discover her work until after she passed, though I am happy to have found her at all.

Her points are short, sweet, and very much to the point. They are creative in their brevity and still carry a point or a punch if you prefer. Ironically I myself tend to write much longer poems, erring on the side o...more

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Jul 27, 2011 John Pappas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ryan's immaculately measured voice occasionally dips into a dry wryness but always re-emerges to retain a deft control over her deceptively simple word-play. These poems about art, the natural world and scientific phenomena seem, at first glance, to be casually observational. A second, third or fourth look at each reveals much more.This collection, augmenting selections from previous works with new poems, is not only filled with superb work that stands alone, but many poems are arranged so that...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Kasandra rated it 5 of 5 stars

In a word: awesome. A must-read for poets, as well as those who think they don't like, or understand, poetry. I've been a fan of Ryan since I came across "Say Uncle" on the discount shelf at the bookstore (why was it there?!?).... this is a great collection. Her way with language is amazing, and the connections she makes and the surprises she unveils in even very short poems make these worth reading and re-reading. At times, yes, some of the rhymes seem forced, but that's only an occasional crit...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Julia Curtis rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to like it. I really did. But MAN is Ryan just heavy.
Not in emotion wise either. At least for me.
What I mean is that I feel like I needed a chainsaw going through this collection. That's it. Kay Ryan's poems were a huge tree, and all I had was a dull knife to cut it down. You need some serious brain power and time to get through these babies. The poems are very creative and the language is very... it's a mouthful. And I like that. But there are no images that come with the poems. Subje...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Erika rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

Favorite Poems: "The Edges of Time", "Bait Goat", "Stations", "Pentimenti", "Polish and Balm", "Retroactive", "Galapago", "Shift", "Easter Island", "Spiderweb", "Still Life With Lemons, Oranges and a Rose", "Flamingo Watching", "The Narrow Path", "How Successful Can She Afford to Be?", "So Different", "A Certain Meanness of Culture", "Miner's Canaries", "Deer", "Snake Charm", "Persiflage", "All Shall Be Restored", "Crib", "How Birds Sing", "if the Moon Happened Once", "The Second", "If She Only...more

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Oct 16, 2011 Osho rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

t their best, Ryan's poems are gem-like, with astounding observations that give a brilliant little flash as you examine them: Oh! At worst, they are doggerel, sing-songly little nothings with no point beyond description (in the manner of giraffe...carafe, though that isn't actually one of her rhymes). This collection includes both and allows a longitudinal look at how Ryan has streamlined and improved her work over time. Her rhymes are less clangy; her abstractions less pronouncements than obser...more

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Mar 31, 2010 Chiuho rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the one of book I enjoyed the most in my recent poetry marathon.
on the review of the cover stated that great poetry inspire us with the music of language and force of wisdom. I felt that about this collection.

Losses

Most losses add something -
a new socket or silence,
a gap in a personal
archipelago od islands.

We have that difference
to visit - itself
a going -on of sorts.

But there are other losses
so far beyond report
that they leave holes
in holes only

likes the ends of the
long and lonely liv...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Mike Jensen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Is this worth reading? Well over 90% of these poems are not. There is nothing breathtaking in the language, and few of these poems have a governing idea that seems profound enough to write a poem about. I am baffled by her popularity and the high rating others have given this book. There are occasional poems, perhaps eight in this collection, which the author considers her best work, which express something in a very nice way. These were good enough that I make myself slog through the rest hopin...more

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Apr 19, 2011 QVT rated it 1 of 5 stars

kay ryan having a wank or somethin, shit look like a high school type it hittin space with they hariy ass palm when they beat off dickward and cum off skyward, into that eternal never of true fuckign SATISFACTION, murakami deals with this and gets it right, 'just once i'd like my fill of love'

we exist in our core, those living ones of us, who would enter my republican "we" willingly, as insatiable both through a base insatiability but also through our ineffable ability for the ineffable in our...more

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Dec 14, 2010 Jenny rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry, read2010

The poems are brief, short lines, incomplete thoughts. Sometimes they are referencing but not enough to make it as deep as I think she means it.

From her earlier works, I really liked Glass Slippers ("So many miracles don't start far back enough.")

From the most recent, I liked The Niagara River, the idea of heading to your doom but forgetting or not caring enough to notice.

Those are the best poems - the ones that point to humanity or emotion. I don't care as much for those that reference works of...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Jimmy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry

I have to express a lot of disappointment reading this collection. I had to keep pressing my snooze alarm to prevent myself from falling asleep. It was quite telling to look down the list of titles in the Table of Contents. Not one caught my eye as something different or exciting. And the poems themselves were the same way: just very boring.

Here's an example of one of the best:

Drops in the Bucket

At first
each drop
makes its
own pock
against the tin.
In time
there is a
thin lacquer
which is
layered a...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Jennifer M. Hartsock rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Kay Ryan’s poetry is a blend of logical quirks and unexpected rhymes. We wouldn’t know it until later, but Ryan herself is full of wit and wisdom, as well. It took Ryan several years for her work to become recognized, beforehand self-publishing her first collection. Ryan is described as a “go-getter.” She knew what she wanted to gain through writing, and patiently waited until others finally noticed her talent. For many artists, instant gratification is always a motivator to keep going—but Ryan...more Kay Ryan’s poetry is a blend of logical quirks and unexpected rhymes. We wouldn’t know it until later, but Ryan herself is full of wit and wisdom, as well. It took Ryan several years for her work to become recognized, beforehand self-publishing her first collection. Ryan is described as a “go-getter.” She knew what she wanted to gain through writing, and patiently waited until others finally noticed her talent. For many artists, instant gratification is always a motivator to keep going—but Ryan taught us that toughing out the unnoticeable years will pay off in the end if you stick to your craft.
In Ryan’s poem “Spiderweb,” she uses what she calls “recombinant rhyme”—internal rhyme—as well as conveying a moral of persona and the inner self. For instance, the lines: “…always hauling coarse ropes, hitching line to the best posts…” and, “…wincing up give. It isn’t ever delicate to live,” are examples of internal rhyme. In the eye of the spider, it knows how secure and strong its webs are, though from the outsider’s point-of-view, we see a fragile web. We see a “delicate” life for the spider, but a spider’s life is full of “heavy work” that we don’t perceive is there. The moral here is not to judge a book by its cover—you’re often times wrong.
There are uses of her internal rhyme in “Flamingo Watching,” as well, with: “goes, furbelows,” “nature, structure,” and, “legs, egg.” The moral of this poem has a different meaning for me than it does to some of my classmates. Ryan’s poem starts out with a description of a flamingo: “she seems unnatural by nature,” and, “…anything she does seems like an act,” and, “…she’s too exact and sinuous to convince an audience she’s serious.” I believe this to mean that those people who flaunt their faith—both being saved and for being a superior person because of it—are the ones who believe they’re the chosen ones. Ryan then writes: “The natural elect… would be less pink… less able to relax their necks… less flamboyant in general,” meaning that the people who give their entire life to humanity—aiding third world countries, donating to charities—living below means in order to spread love and compassion to others—would be the rightful “chosen ones.” The ones who do the right thing without broadcasting their good will, or wanting gratification for their work.
Kay Ryan uses nature to touch on the ideals of life. She stays away from fragmented verse, she has created something entirely her own: shifty rhythm and interesting meanings. Ryan takes a lesson, looks at it from a different—a fresh—point-of-view and then applies word-play to convey her message. Whether or not my interpretations of her poems are correct or incorrect, the recognition for ay Ryan’s work, her ability to teach through passion, has finally surfaced.(less)

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Feb 19, 2011 James Murphy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was steered toward reading Kay Ryan by a critical appraisal comparing her to Dickinson. I think the comparison fitting. Ryan's poems, too, are short, stabbing darts which are deceptively simple and easy. The brevity of her form helps to create the deception, but held within the rind of that simple form is a denser, meatier thought. The reader's task, as with all poetry, is to peel away the rind to get at the pulp within. Each of the poems in The Best of It, like Dickinson's poems, is a radianc...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Neil rated it 4 of 5 stars

Back in the day, in college and the years just after, I tried to make it as a poet. I had some degree of success, but without an MFA it didn't seem like a book was in the works and I got tired of the politics.

Anyhooo, I think Ryan's process is very similar to what mine was, taking a smal,l quirky idea, often metaphysical, and teasing a little poem out of it. I often felt the need to pad my poems out more, tell more of a story, get more of an event out of it, but I admire her for sticking to her...more

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Jun 11, 2010 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a great introduction to Kay Ryan, who for this book has chosen what she thinks are her personal "best" from each of her collections. As a(n) (unpublished) writer of poetry, I am in awe of Ryan's ability to take a seemingly mundane occurance -- the passing of clouds, the drinking of tea, etc --and turn it into a revelation. Although I suppose that's what poetry is. Her use of internal rhyme is also impressive, nuanced use of vocabulary and irony are also drool-worthy. I love her.

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Jan 07, 2012 Catelyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks

It's rare that an entire book of poetry is outstanding, and thus I don't fault Kay Ryan for the fact that 90% of this collection is boring. However, that 10% is well worth buying the book and slogging (okay, that's a bit harsh--meandering?) on through the rest until you come upon the gems. Maybe I'm being too harsh. I think I just have a strong distaste for poetry that involves the natural world, you know, grass, pelicans, seashells, fir trees.

My favorites:

Virga
Leaving Spaces
Poetry Is a Kind...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Jeff rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was amazed at this elegant and poignant collection. Ryan's poems were (with all due respect to Milton) short, compact, crafted well, and so engaging at their ends that the reader is apt to go back and reread the work again and again.

Beautiful cadence and in-line rhyme, attention to deeper meaning and experiencial discourse, and quiet simplicity. Each poem whispers its worth that lasts as a shout in the reader's ear.

Who knew George W knew his poetry?

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Oct 07, 2010 Scott rated it 5 of 5 stars

Love this collection, for this poem in particular:

The Edges of Time

It is at the edges
that time thins.
Time which had been
dense and viscous
as amber suspending
intentions like bees
unseizes them. A
humming begins,
apparently coming
from stacks of
put-off things or
just in back. A
racket of claims now,
as time flattens. A
glittering fan of things
competing to happen,
brilliant and urgent
as fish when seas
retreat.

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Apr 06, 2012 Drac329 rated it 4 of 5 stars

It would seem I am a horrible bigot. But, please I am not! I've just had such a hard time conecting with female poets. I have a list of reasons why, and what external factors female poets face that create those reasons. However, this book by Kay is fantastic! I keep catching myself laughing out loud. Not becuase it's a humorous book. But becuase I am gidy with delight at how well she writes. Darn good stuff.

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Jun 14, 2010 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry

Many of these poems are terrific. I got the book from the library; I'd like to own it to read and reread.

Blue China Doorknob

Rooms may be
using us. We
may be the agents
of doorknobs'
purposes, obeying
imperatives china
dreams up or
pacing dimensions
determined by cabinets. And if
we're their instruments--
the valves of their
furious trumpets,
conscripted but
ignorant of it--
the strange, unaccountable
things we betray
were never our secrets
anyway.

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Apr 30, 2011 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

This poet was recommended to me by my poetry TA after I had read Sylvia Plath's collected poetry. Suffice it to say that I do not like Kay Ryan nearly as much as Plath. I have to give her credit, though, because the poems I did like were clever and thought-provoking and some of them were pretty good. But overall, I don't think poets are as awesome as they used to be. I mean, Walt Whitman? He's an amazing poet and no one really writes like him anymore. Kay Ryan, though, is a good poet for her tim...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Marissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: poetry, you-should-read-this-too

I have been a fan of Kay Ryan from the first time I heard her read, when I was an undergrad at UC Santa Barbara. This book does not disappoint. I enjoyed re-discovering poems from previous collections and seeing how they fit together when all placed under one cover. Her purposeful lines, careful rhymes, quick twists, and quiet observations make for poems that pack a punch.

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Jul 29, 2010 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

There really is a qualitative difference between decent poetry that looks like a bunch of phrases separated by hard returns and really impressive poetry that looks like a bunch of phrases separated by hard returns. I am not sure how I feel about the content of the poems in this collection, but I am really impressed by how they actually sound like poems when you read the phrases aloud.

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About Kay Ryan

Born in California in 1945 and acknowledged as one of the most original voices in the contemporary landscape, Kay Ryan is the author of several books of poetry, including Flamingo Watching (2006), The Niagara River (2005), and Say Uncle (2000). Her book The Best of It: New and Selected Poems (2010) won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Ryan's tightly compressed, rhythmically dense poetry is often comp...more Born in California in 1945 and acknowledged as one of the most original voices in the contemporary landscape, Kay Ryan is the author of several books of poetry, including Flamingo Watching (2006), The Niagara River (2005), and Say Uncle (2000). Her book The Best of It: New and Selected Poems (2010) won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Ryan's tightly compressed, rhythmically dense poetry is often compared to that of Emily Dickinson and Marianne Moore; however, Ryan’s often barbed wit and unique facility with “recombinant” rhyme has earned her the status of one of the great living American poets, and led to her appointment as U.S. Poet Laureate in 2008. She held the position for two terms, using the appointment to champion community colleges like the one in Marin County, California where she and her partner Carol Adair taught for over thirty years. In an interview with the Washington City Paper at the end of tenure, Ryan called herself a “whistle-blower” who “advocated for much underpraised and underfunded community colleges across the nation.”

Ryan’s surprising laureateship capped years of outsider-status in the poetry world. Her quizzical, philosophical, often mordant poetry is a product of years of thought. Ryan has said that her poems do not start with imagery or sound, but rather develop “the way an oyster does, with an aggravation.” Critic Meghan O’Rourke has written of her work: “Each poem twists around and back upon its argument like a river retracing its path; they are didactic in spirit, but a bedrock wit supports them.” “Sharks’ Teeth” displays that meandering approach to her subject matter, which, Ryan says, “gives my poems a coolness. I can touch things that are very hot because I’ve given them some distance.”

Kay Ryan is the recipient of several major awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation. She has received the Union League Poetry Prize and the Maurice English Poetry Award, as well as the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Since 2006 she has served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.(less)

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Quotes from The Best of It: New an...

“BAIT GOAT
There is a distance where magnets pull, we feel, having held them back. Likewise there is a distance where words attract. Set one out like a bait goat and wait and seven others will approach. But watch out: roving packs can pull your word away. You find your stake yanked and some rough bunch to thank.” — 4 people liked it

“Ledge

Birds that love
high trees
and winds

and riding
flailing branches
hate ledges
as gripless
and narrow,

so that a tail
is not just
no advantage
but ridiculous,
mashed vertical
against the wall.
You will have
seen the way
a bird who falls
on skimpy places

lifts into the air
again in seconds --
a gift denied
the rest of us
when our portion
isn't generous.” — 3 people liked it

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The Best of It: New and Selected Poems

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