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71st out of 100 books
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Dearest Creature
by
Amy Gerstler
A surreal new collection from an acclaimed poet
Hallucinogenic plants chant in chorus. A thoughtful dog grants an interview. A caterpillar offers life advice. Amy Gerstler's newest collection of poetry, Dearest Creature, marries fact and fiction in a menagerie of dramatic monologues, twisted love poems, and epistolary pleadings. Drawing on sources as disparate as Lewis Carr...more
Hallucinogenic plants chant in chorus. A thoughtful dog grants an interview. A caterpillar offers life advice. Amy Gerstler's newest collection of poetry, Dearest Creature, marries fact and fiction in a menagerie of dramatic monologues, twisted love poems, and epistolary pleadings. Drawing on sources as disparate as Lewis Carr...more
Paperback, 80 pages
Published
September 29th 2009
by Penguin (Non-Classics)
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I had to order a poetry book for class so I took the opportunity to also order this book by Amy Gerstler, who I have heard good things about. The verdict? Lots of fun.
Things I liked: The voice, the tone, the playfulness, the unexpected depth, the descriptions ... One reason I read poetry is to see the world in a different way and DEAREST CREATURE did not disappoint.
Things I didn't get: I think the poet was taking on different personas and also narrating from her perspective. ...more
Things I liked: The voice, the tone, the playfulness, the unexpected depth, the descriptions ... One reason I read poetry is to see the world in a different way and DEAREST CREATURE did not disappoint.
Things I didn't get: I think the poet was taking on different personas and also narrating from her perspective. ...more
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I'm a vertebrate gumbo. But whoIt's always hard for me to evaluate a book of poems because I never feel equally strongly about all of them. Here there are several poems that I truly love and want to return to in the future (or even read multiple times as I read through the book), including "For My Niece Sidney, Age Six," "Advice from a Caterpillar," "Chanson," "Birds of America,"...more
among us is not a comically constructed
mutt, a cacophonous anthology?
I think this is a decent book of poems, in the sense that it kept me entertained well enough. But at the same time, I'm not sure it's doing enough for me on the level of structure-- what about these makes them not prose with arbitrary line breaks? I don't really know.
And the subject matter of the poems is creative and appealing-- who wouldn't like a poem about what the clothes say to each other when hung up in the closet. But having asked the question, Gerstler, for me at least, didn't...more
And the subject matter of the poems is creative and appealing-- who wouldn't like a poem about what the clothes say to each other when hung up in the closet. But having asked the question, Gerstler, for me at least, didn't...more
I rarely read poetry "recreationally", which I guess is sort of blasphemous. (I tend to either get too depressed--"I could never write this well"--or too angry--"My stuff is as good as this! Where's MY book deal?!") I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, however. It is delightful. It's sometimes comic, sometimes a touch sentimental, sometimes kooky, sometimes mournful. If you're looking for formal verse, go away. But if you enjoy someone who enjoys the world (as oppo...more
This is a book of creatures that does not disappoint (and I am speaking as one familiar with creature books in general). In each poem, Gerstler allows some part of herself a moment, a voice. Each of these parts I could see mirrored (sometimes in a warped, fun-house sort of way) in my own self, and yet they each stand unique, creaturely, as selves belonging to no one else but themselves.
I found one of the strongest, most persistent voices in this book coming from "Mrs. Monster P...more
I found one of the strongest, most persistent voices in this book coming from "Mrs. Monster P...more
Delicious. In sound and in sense.
I eat this up: in "Moths": eyes like tiny burn holes.
Yet, there is much I don't understand -- why is "Untranslatable" for David Lehman? Who are all the other dedicatees? -- and was kind of unmoved throughout the "Maidenly" section.
And still! I continue adoring.
For moments like these:
"Moon Salutation": Even as I sleep in a ravine on a mattress of dead grass, bright jawbreaker, I do...more
I eat this up: in "Moths": eyes like tiny burn holes.
Yet, there is much I don't understand -- why is "Untranslatable" for David Lehman? Who are all the other dedicatees? -- and was kind of unmoved throughout the "Maidenly" section.
And still! I continue adoring.
For moments like these:
"Moon Salutation": Even as I sleep in a ravine on a mattress of dead grass, bright jawbreaker, I do...more
Saw a poem from this collection on Mark Doty's blog and went to Powell's the next day to get it. Read a couple of poems to a non-poet co-worker on a drive to a job site (and lent it to her after I finished it later in the week).
This is the kind of book I would hope to write (one day). One of my favorite first two lines ever, from "Mrs. Monster Pens Her Memoir"
Here’s a technical question.
Dare I write my fractured past
This is the kind of book I would hope to write (one day). One of my favorite first two lines ever, from "Mrs. Monster Pens Her Memoir"
Here’s a technical question.
Dare I write my fractured past
I really liked some poems in here, and others left me cold. Overall I admire Gerstler's energy and discursive style, but sometimes it feels like she's being weird just to be weird, and I hate that. I especially liked "For My Niece, Sidney, At Age 6" although I don't know why it's not "To" and "Greece" and more of the poems toward the end of the book.
This is some of the finest poetry I've read (granted the sample is small) - I picked this up from the New shelves at the library because I liked the cover - yes, I judged a book by it's cover despite all the warnings against - and I thought it might make a nice companion to the Billy Collins book I also checked out. This was way better.
Playful, droll, smart verses full of feeling. From "Birds of America"'s "season of my comeuppance" to the mistressful "Mrs. Monster Pens Her Memoirs" with its recognition that each of us is "a comically constructed / mutt, a cacophonous anthology" to the very pleasurable "Untranslatable," these poems will win you over.
I started and finished this book in one sitting. Gerstler's words flowed off the pages and I found myself connecting directly to her poetry several times while reading.
Personal favorites include:
For My Niece Sidney, Age Six
Advice from a Caterpillar
He
Elegy with Peonies
Personal favorites include:
For My Niece Sidney, Age Six
Advice from a Caterpillar
He
Elegy with Peonies
This collection is too cute, as in too much, glib and a certain hipster craft fair element. The comparisons to Dorothy Parker and even Rebecca brown are there. I trust gerstlers voice, though at times wish she would write through the obvious as she does in the last section of this book.
Okay, look, I don't EVER check out a book of poetry by one author from the library. This one is so awesome so far I may have to buy it.
I have been running around shoving this book in people's faces and demanding that they read it or listen to me reciting poems from it.
I have been running around shoving this book in people's faces and demanding that they read it or listen to me reciting poems from it.
Ours was a friendship
that slowly melted into love
[...:]
Beauty only divides the world--
ugliness is far more fascinating,
contains infinitely more variation,
its existence crucial to beauty,
therefore all the more precious.
that slowly melted into love
[...:]
Beauty only divides the world--
ugliness is far more fascinating,
contains infinitely more variation,
its existence crucial to beauty,
therefore all the more precious.
Amy is definitely among my favorite poets - there is not a single poem in this book that I don't love. So clever, Amy is absolutely brilliant.
This might be my favorite Gerstler title to date...though it is so difficult to choose.
Some of the poems I found lovely. Others I just didn't get at all.
i just got this from interlibrary loan. though there is a big sticker obstructing the cover saying i owe $100 if i lose the book, i am still pretty sure this is the hipsterist book cover ever? i may. thanks.
update: i didn't like at all "ghost girl" the only other title i read. but this is good! it's weird to think books from the same author published only 5 years apart can evoke such different reactions.
update: i didn't like at all "ghost girl" the only other title i read. but this is good! it's weird to think books from the same author published only 5 years apart can evoke such different reactions.
This book was uneven for me. There are a handful of poems with delightful turns of phrase and colorful trajectory (For my Niece, Sidney, Age Six; Dearest Creature; Letter from the Middle Ages; Birds of America; the room did not lurch), and the epistolary poem is attractive, but the bulk of this book fell flat.
Never thought I would have a need for the word "quirky," but that is the word for Gerstler's perspective on the world. If you like surprising, engaging, intelligent and quirky poetry don't miss this and "Ghost Girl."
Loved this one, loved the leaps into the surreal, so I bought her other book Medicine. Was a little let down, as it doesn't seem to pack the same punch (or even have the same voice). Ah well.
Stirring, wondrous, haunting, jarring, glorious poems.
I keep trying, but I just don't get poetry. Some good imagery, though.
Rachel
marked it as to-read
Sara Anderson
marked it as to-read
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“Advice from a Caterpillar
Chew your way into a new world.
Munch leaves. Molt. Rest. Molt
again. Self-reinvention is everything.
Spin many nests. Cultivate stinging
bristles. Don't get sentimental
about your discarded skins. Grow
quickly. Develop a yen for nettles.
Alternate crumpling and climbing. Rely
on your antennae. Sequester poisons
in your body for use at a later date.
When threatened, emit foul odors
in self-defense. Behave cryptically
to confuse predators: change colors, spit,
or feign death. If all else fails, taste terrible.”
—
5 people liked it
More quotes…
Chew your way into a new world.
Munch leaves. Molt. Rest. Molt
again. Self-reinvention is everything.
Spin many nests. Cultivate stinging
bristles. Don't get sentimental
about your discarded skins. Grow
quickly. Develop a yen for nettles.
Alternate crumpling and climbing. Rely
on your antennae. Sequester poisons
in your body for use at a later date.
When threatened, emit foul odors
in self-defense. Behave cryptically
to confuse predators: change colors, spit,
or feign death. If all else fails, taste terrible.”
