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491st out of 598 books
—
1,402 voters
Head Off and Split
by
Nikky Finney
The poems in Nikky Finney’s breathtaking new collection Head Off & Split sustain a sensitive and intense dialogue with emblematic figures and events in African American life: from civil rights matriarch Rosa Parks to former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, from a brazen girl strung out on lightning to a terrified woman abandoned on a rooftop during Hurricane Katrin...more
Paperback, 116 pages
Published
January 27th 2011
by Triquarterly
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I am amazed by the deft characterization of many of these persona poems. In just the first few poems, we enter the lives of a seemingly-biographical woman buying fish, Rosa Parks as a seamstress, neglected victims of Hurricane Katrina, and a woman brave in the face of Rita, all of whom come across vividly. I was less interested in the view given of G.W. Bush giving a speech as a cowboy or the "Condoleezza Rice Suite" poems about her love of piano and tailored suits: in both cases, the parody or...more
Head Off & Split basically sums up my feelings about this book. Several poems including Red Velvet, Left, Penguin Mullet Bread and Liberty Street Seafood blew my mind wide open. They are masterpieces - as good as anything you'll find in contemporary American poetry - that speak in original musical language and convey a world of meaning. Many others just made me want to split. The Condoleeza Suite and Plunder (a 19-part poem about Bush's final State of the Union speech) seemed to squander Fin...more
I heard Nikky Finney's acceptance speech for the National Book award and it blew me away! John Lithgow said after that her speech was the best acceptance speech he had ever heard about anything EVER and he wasn't exaggerating. If you have not seen or read that speech, you need to.
Now, having heard that amazing speech my expectations for the book were high, and I was pretty disappointed. Her topics are pretty political and racial, but they don't resonate, they material jumps around so much that...more
Now, having heard that amazing speech my expectations for the book were high, and I was pretty disappointed. Her topics are pretty political and racial, but they don't resonate, they material jumps around so much that...more
The fact that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I wanted to only goes to show how subjective poetry truly is.
Finney's voice is strong and her imagery is fantastic. The last few poems, "Penguin, Mullet, Bread", "Liberty Street Seafood", and "Head Off & Split" are magnificent pieces. The choice to forego punctuation in lieu of extra spaces in the last (save a lonely exclamation point) is a surprising choice that I found I really kind of loved. When the poems in Head Off & Split are good,...more
Finney's voice is strong and her imagery is fantastic. The last few poems, "Penguin, Mullet, Bread", "Liberty Street Seafood", and "Head Off & Split" are magnificent pieces. The choice to forego punctuation in lieu of extra spaces in the last (save a lonely exclamation point) is a surprising choice that I found I really kind of loved. When the poems in Head Off & Split are good,...more
My response to this book, a local book club selection, was lukewarm. Finney is certainly an accomplished poet, capable of subtlety, complexity, and wonderful word play. However, this book has shown me how political poetry often doesn't work. I can understand writing a poem or poems about a politician or political event. In fact, I don't think that is done often enough. But that poem will have a short shelf life. Thus, I have no interest in reading a 19 sonnet sequence about George Bush. The musi...more
Back in the early 80s, my friend Geoff and I went to a play at the Provincetown Playhouse in downtown New York. An NYU group (sorry, Riah) was presenting a "Brechtian" political satire directed at Reagan's presidency. By the time it was over, I was on the verge of signing up as a Republican as a protest against the self-righteous smug simplistic (continue to fill in adjectives as long as you feel like it) posturing.
This book of poetry makes me feel much the same way. On a very abstract level, I...more
This book of poetry makes me feel much the same way. On a very abstract level, I...more
I sent her a note today; this, after reading 2 pieces outloud to friend and husband yesterday. Steve Pulley - gratitude from the bottom of my heart; I'm including the whole note, because it reveals my passion:
A writer friend visited yesterday, speaking of Head Off & Split and you, Nikky Finney. I sat next to him and read out loud to my husband one or two of the lines in your poems. Then I stopped. I started reading whole poems to the group. My friend's eyes filled with tears and sometimes la...more
A writer friend visited yesterday, speaking of Head Off & Split and you, Nikky Finney. I sat next to him and read out loud to my husband one or two of the lines in your poems. Then I stopped. I started reading whole poems to the group. My friend's eyes filled with tears and sometimes la...more
This collection is an intensely personal treatment of politics, emotion and history. Let me say first, that although the political poems are so strong (the Condoleezza Suite and GW sonnets), her voice and spirit, they are my least favorite. Perhaps that's because I'm in the middle of rectifying my own political anger in my own way. I read Finney best when she's really knocking on all my doors like in "Red Velvet" and "Head Off and Split." Though these two poems are at the beginning and end respe...more
The title poem is amazing. The first poem, "Resurrection of the Errand Girl: An Introduction", is by itself a great reason to get the book. Finney's poems about personal, familial and even sexual issues are strong, beautiful and richly rewarding.
The political poems, not so much - which is the only reason I did not rate this book much higher. It's tough to write a political poem that engages without devolving into a rant. Even though I agreed with the political stance taken, I found the Condolee...more
The political poems, not so much - which is the only reason I did not rate this book much higher. It's tough to write a political poem that engages without devolving into a rant. Even though I agreed with the political stance taken, I found the Condolee...more
I enjoyed this book for its balance between subtlety and bite. The poems about political figures (George Bush, Condoleezza Rice and Strom Thurman) are timeless. We can look to these poems and identify them with so many of our cookie cutter "leadership."
Finney is definitely working her craft as the variety of line, form and subject matter in Head Off and Split is a carnival of wonder. A great read. I recommend it. Especially to those of us who want to do more than make superficial connections to...more
Finney is definitely working her craft as the variety of line, form and subject matter in Head Off and Split is a carnival of wonder. A great read. I recommend it. Especially to those of us who want to do more than make superficial connections to...more
Finney’s acceptance speech for the 2012 National Book Award is a stunner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFSiKx...
I read this entire book out loud to myself. These mostly long, worldly poems in a story-teller’s voice filled with compassion for the black people she writes about and outrage at the forces of oppression in their lives. There is a beautiful long poem about Rosa Parks, “Red Velvet,” though most of the poems are about Louisiana and Hurricane Katrina. This is a knock your socks off kind...more
I read this entire book out loud to myself. These mostly long, worldly poems in a story-teller’s voice filled with compassion for the black people she writes about and outrage at the forces of oppression in their lives. There is a beautiful long poem about Rosa Parks, “Red Velvet,” though most of the poems are about Louisiana and Hurricane Katrina. This is a knock your socks off kind...more
It's been a long time since I've read poetry, and this collection inspires me to get back into it.
This collection is beautiful because it's complex without being overly confusing or wordy. I hate poetry that sounds pretty but you have no clue what was said. The subject matter here is simple, but at the same time it's not simple at all.
The best poem, undoubtedly, is the first in the collection, Red Velvet, about Rosa Parks. And I thought, "Okay, this may be a whole political collection, but I wou...more
This collection is beautiful because it's complex without being overly confusing or wordy. I hate poetry that sounds pretty but you have no clue what was said. The subject matter here is simple, but at the same time it's not simple at all.
The best poem, undoubtedly, is the first in the collection, Red Velvet, about Rosa Parks. And I thought, "Okay, this may be a whole political collection, but I wou...more
Nikky Finney writes poems that are political and sometimes funny. Take, for instance, the poems making up The Condoleeza Suite. If only!
My favorites were the very first poem about the errand girl, with this beautiful line:
"She would rather be the one deciding what she keeps and what she throws away."
(Okay, better in context, but there you go).
My other favorite was Cattails, about the lengths we go to for love, even when it isn't asked for.
My favorites were the very first poem about the errand girl, with this beautiful line:
"She would rather be the one deciding what she keeps and what she throws away."
(Okay, better in context, but there you go).
My other favorite was Cattails, about the lengths we go to for love, even when it isn't asked for.
This National Book Award winner is a very good collection of strong, musical poems. There are several long poems about diverse characters: George W. Bush, Condolezza Rice, Katrina, Wilma Rudolph. She is an explosive and daring writer who explores many subjects. A compelling poem about a woman lover is striking in its imagery and strength. A great new voice.
If I could give it 10 stars I would.
Incidentally, I was in Pizza di Roma the other night, eating a slice and reading Head Off & Split, and a guy comes up to me and tells me he loved the book. He then told me he won a poetry fellowship the judge of which was none other than Nikky Finney. We talked about her acceptance speech and other youtube videos. Only in Madison.
Incidentally, I was in Pizza di Roma the other night, eating a slice and reading Head Off & Split, and a guy comes up to me and tells me he loved the book. He then told me he won a poetry fellowship the judge of which was none other than Nikky Finney. We talked about her acceptance speech and other youtube videos. Only in Madison.
Nikky Finney won the National Book Award for poetry with this collection of exceptional poems. "Red Velvet" is the consummate tribute to Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement, while "Left" is the most eloquent final word on the Katrina "massacre". "Head Off & Split" will tilt your comfort zone and tickle the poetic senses. It is heart breaking yet redemptive.
Struck me as too ambitious. touches on race and racial politics in a shallow way, often inserts race into poems and leaves it completely unaddressed. Certainly didn't address race in a way that was radical, original, or even all that thought provoking. emphasis on katrina was strong and effective however
Both the political and the intimate.
"...the mother wants to be happy she has a daughter/who can drive herself up and down the road the mother's/eyes have turned into an ocean mourning waves leave/for the open shore again the dark wide open sea for both /is just ahead she covers her face with her beautiful dark hands..."
"...the mother wants to be happy she has a daughter/who can drive herself up and down the road the mother's/eyes have turned into an ocean mourning waves leave/for the open shore again the dark wide open sea for both /is just ahead she covers her face with her beautiful dark hands..."
I originally knew Nikky Finney's through her having edited "The Ringing Ear" and then having heard her at an AWP conference a while back, but this book is one that I'm sorry to say I didn't read sooner. Finney's perceptions about race, sex and the South are particular and subtle, bringing larger issues down to personal realities. Simply put, this is a very powerful volume of poetry.
Fairly definitively a five--I was lucky enough to see Finney read just after, and the experience has profoundly changed me.
I wrote more about the book and the experience here:
http://mapsandpoetry.blogspot.com/201...
I wrote more about the book and the experience here:
http://mapsandpoetry.blogspot.com/201...
Feb 27, 2012
Bruce Wasserman
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone- it is powerfully evocative poetry
Nikki is a masterful poet and Head Off and Split is like the cream that rises to the top of a glass bottle of unpasteurized milk... it's just so darned good you want more and more. An amazing collection from a truly incredible poet.
This excellent book of poems is highly accessible, yet still challenging. I learned. I remembered. I dreamed. Thank you, Nikky Finney. And I highly recommend the YouTube video of her National Book Award acceptance speech.
I heard Nikki Finney being interviewed on the radio while I was driving, passed my house, went to the bookstore and bought this book. It's about a journey. It is wonderful. Make sure you read her acceptance speech at the end.
I read this book as if it were a pot boiler–each poem leads into the next in relevancy and immediacy. Finney has earned the National Book Award as well as a place in literary history.
Her best book of poetry, so far! Insightful, moving, erotic...she tells so many wonderful stories in a fearless, singular, poetic voice. A book I will return to, again and again...
I was particularly struck by the first poem Red Velvet, about Rosa Parks. What a great companion to the many picture book biographies of her.
Long lined and prose-poemed volume. Big political poems set in real-world of Katrina, Bush, and Alabama history. Some brilliant brilliant lines.
Extraordinary poems. I found the print hard to decipher but hearing her read them aloud on YouTube was powerful and clarifying for me.
An impossibly perfect book of poems! I can hardly believe they actually exist. Warning to readers: you will be hooked!
Waited for months for this to come off back-order because of one line in one poem about cattails I just couldn't forget.
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Apr 17, 2013 01:36pm