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61st out of 100 books
—
41 voters
Life on Mars
Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize
* A New York Times Notable Book of 2011 and New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice *
*A New Yorker, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year *
New poetry by the award-winning poet Tracy K. Smith, whose “lyric brilliance and political impulses never falter” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
You lie there kicking like a...more
* A New York Times Notable Book of 2011 and New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice *
*A New Yorker, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year *
New poetry by the award-winning poet Tracy K. Smith, whose “lyric brilliance and political impulses never falter” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
You lie there kicking like a...more
Paperback, 88 pages
Published
May 10th 2011
by Graywolf Press
(first published April 26th 2011)
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I'm not a collector of poetry but after hearing Ms Smith read "when Your Small Form Tumbled Into Me" from this volume on NPR I knew I had to read more. Her poems have a remarkable range - interpersonal, intrapersonal, community, spiritual, earthy, wry, sad. I expect I will pick up this volume a few times before shelving it as "read".
From "The Museum of Obsolescence":
....
In the south wing, there's a small room
Where a living man sits on display. Ask,
And he'll describe the old beliefs. If you
Laugh...more
From "The Museum of Obsolescence":
....
In the south wing, there's a small room
Where a living man sits on display. Ask,
And he'll describe the old beliefs. If you
Laugh...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I really enjoyed this Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry collection by Tracy K. Smith. The poems are sorted into four parts and fluidly shift from contemplating the universe and our future to dealing with present-day harsh realities of life on earth.
"The Weather in Space" is a prologue poem that sets the tone for the entire collection:
Is God being or pure force? The wind
Or what commands it? When our lives slow
And we can hold all that we love, it sprawls
In our laps like a gangly doll. When the storm
Ki...more
"The Weather in Space" is a prologue poem that sets the tone for the entire collection:
Is God being or pure force? The wind
Or what commands it? When our lives slow
And we can hold all that we love, it sprawls
In our laps like a gangly doll. When the storm
Ki...more
By turns profound and philosophical, then conversational and hip, then formal, then inventive, this is a wide-ranging book that lends itself to re-reads, though not all the poems are as impactful as you might expect from a Pulitzer Prize winner. Smith covers both the political and the personal well, though I wasn't so much a fan of the last section (Four), which deals more with romance and personal details/intimacies. The long elegiac poem for the author's father (The Speed of Belief), as well a...more
Buying books I have never read and have never been recommended is the only way I gamble, because the odds of coming out on top are better than in any casino or lottery drawing. In the case of buying Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars, I hit the jackpot. There was hardly a poem in this collection that I did not like, and none that did not keep my interest. Smith’s subject matter floats between the physical and the spiritual, and between those two she presents the good and the bad. She does not write i...more
May 14, 2012
Magdalena
added it
Tracy K Smith’s work manages to toe the line perfectly between a commonplace modernism and a fanciful classicism. The poems in her collection Life on Mars are intrinsically current, referencing a bunch of cultural icons, including Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a range of David Bowie songs, current affairs and news items. Bowie is particularly prevalent, not only in the title poem which comes from the Hunky Dory song of the same title, but also lines from the albums Low and The Man Who Sold t...more
There were a few poems that really struck me in this collection, but only a few. I think I'm not as engaged by the tone of the poetry as I could be, perhaps because I find the kind of revelatory, confessional mode a little worn out and unengaging. But some of the speculative poems at the beginning, and especially "Museum of Obsolescence" and "Sci Fi" were startling and extraordinary. But a lot of the poems in the collection seem very...standard. I don't know if that's the right way to describe t...more
Will have to come back to this one. I know it's been highly lauded, but . . . It didn't do it for me. Though there were a few poems I really liked. Could be me. I should come back with a more open mind.
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Originally posted at http://postdefiance.com/fresh-produce/, written by Timothy Thomas McNeely.
Published in May 2011, Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars: Poems won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2012, and just arrived at the front of my queue at the library.
In this collection, Smith merges extremely personal elegies with contemplation of the stars, amusing anecdote with gory news, and David Bowie with a fear of death, as in this excerpt from “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?”
Time never stops, but does...more
Published in May 2011, Tracy K. Smith’s Life on Mars: Poems won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2012, and just arrived at the front of my queue at the library.
In this collection, Smith merges extremely personal elegies with contemplation of the stars, amusing anecdote with gory news, and David Bowie with a fear of death, as in this excerpt from “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?”
Time never stops, but does...more
An amazing collection by an amazing writer. I was particularly moved by the piece, 'Don't You Wonder Sometimes' (the one about David Bowie.) Other favorites include 'Sci Fi,' which is as precise, clean cut, and excellent as poetry can get.vThis collection reminds me a lot of the science-themed poems of May Swenson, but with more seriousness and sophistication.
On 32poems.com, Jasmine V. Bailey wrote of the author: 'I was disheartened initially to read a little about Tracy K. Smith and realize ho...more
On 32poems.com, Jasmine V. Bailey wrote of the author: 'I was disheartened initially to read a little about Tracy K. Smith and realize ho...more
I think this type of poetry may just not be of much appeal to me: plainspoken, meditative, constantly jogging the mundane into turning profound, but also taking subjects which are almost too easily grand.
The poems in this volume are full of wonder, but not surprise or mystery (one line is actually "Less and less surprises us as odd."), which strangely bothers me. There are few moments of linguistic or figurative intensity--wordplay, metaphor, even the jolt of unexpected diction. The only poem wh...more
The poems in this volume are full of wonder, but not surprise or mystery (one line is actually "Less and less surprises us as odd."), which strangely bothers me. There are few moments of linguistic or figurative intensity--wordplay, metaphor, even the jolt of unexpected diction. The only poem wh...more
I read about Tracy K. Smith’s new book of poems on the New York Times Book Review online. Upon learning that her father was one of the engineers of the Hubble Telescope and that her poetry directed questions at the workings of space, God, and beyond, I was intrigued. As someone who enjoys reading about the sciences, cosmology included, I looked forward to Smith’s reflections on life in the (physical) heavens as well as on earth.
Her style, which included capitalizing the first word of every line...more
Her style, which included capitalizing the first word of every line...more
I heard about this book of all places on NPR's "On Point" with Tom Ashbrook. The author was interviewed by Tom who absolutely gushed about it. Tracy K. Smith is a very good poet--she has a mystical sensibility despite her seeming adherence to a "positivism." Much of the verse centers on the recent death of her father, who was a scientist best known for his work on the Hubble Telescope. There are some very moving passages and beautiful turns of phrase, marred only here and there by the impenetrab...more
Death, eternity, love, and family are all familiar themes for poetry— which makes them dangerous themes as well, since it is easy to fall into cliché. Tracy K. Smith's father worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, and so she uses outer space and related images to explore her feelings at his death; that frame gives the poems a sense of wonder and largeness as well as loss. The language is (mostly) simple, but the imagery it builds is complex and the range of allusion is wide. The poems are, obviou...more
One of my more fortunate impulse buys. The undistilled, sort of instinctive feeling of Smith's poems put one in a surreal, yet reflexive, state of mind. Reading some of the pieces made me think of the simple yet profound thoughts you tend to have right before you wake up from a dream. I also found the book easy to dive into, which probably says something about its accessibility, as I am not a devout or well-versed (ha?) poetry enthusiast by any means. My favorite pieces were "My God, It's Full o...more
An outstanding book of poetry. There's a real narrative quality to many of the poems and I particularly appreciated the breadth of topics Smith engages with in her poetry. Some of the strongest poems are those that deal with current events. There's a strong sense of accessibility in that...these are the kind of poems that are meant to be read and understood and appreciated. Some moments are simply breathtaking. She uses the word gracile, which is a lovely, lovely word. The whole collection is mi...more
Far more abstract and, uh, cosmic than I tend to like, but wow, it's good. Since I've only really started reading poetry in the last year or so, I guess I'm simultaneously a tough critic and pretty open-minded, and although I hadn't exactly expected to dislike this book, I really didn't anticipate loving it so much. But it's beautiful, provocative stuff, and the book is thematically focused in a way that I think is entirely successful. You never lose sight of what's important here, and every poe...more
I've been carrying this around with me for a week, reading these poems over and over, letting their images sit with me. The book's starting to look a bit ragged but oh my life has been the richer for it.
I love that she flirts with, and sometimes outright goes for, the traditional form. (LOVE the villanelle! "Solstice"). I like the preponderance of inner line rhymes and the way she teases out the language.
The space (and Bowie) themed bits were cool but in the end they weren't my favorites.
Very fa...more
I love that she flirts with, and sometimes outright goes for, the traditional form. (LOVE the villanelle! "Solstice"). I like the preponderance of inner line rhymes and the way she teases out the language.
The space (and Bowie) themed bits were cool but in the end they weren't my favorites.
Very fa...more
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith, published by Graywolf Press on 30 percent post-consumer wastepaper, is a collection sliced up into four parts, and it won this year’s Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. In the first section there are two parallels that Smith draws — the one between poet and astronomer searching for meaning in vastness and the parallels between the physical and spiritual world. Like in “Cathedral Kitsch,” the narrator speaks of the gleam of gold in the church and wonders if God is there shi...more
Book: Life on Mars
Author: Tracy K. Smith
Published: May 2011 by Graywolf Press, 88 pages
Date Read: June 2012
First Line: ”Is God being or pure force? The wind/or what commands it?”
Genre/Rating: Poetry; 4/5 letters from victims to their murderers
(Copy provided by Graywolf Press)
Review: Susie was kind enough to score this book for me in NYC, and poetry? OK. Yes, please. I’m down with that.
This collection won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry this year, so I was ready to be wowed, going into it. And in s...more
Author: Tracy K. Smith
Published: May 2011 by Graywolf Press, 88 pages
Date Read: June 2012
First Line: ”Is God being or pure force? The wind/or what commands it?”
Genre/Rating: Poetry; 4/5 letters from victims to their murderers
(Copy provided by Graywolf Press)
Review: Susie was kind enough to score this book for me in NYC, and poetry? OK. Yes, please. I’m down with that.
This collection won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry this year, so I was ready to be wowed, going into it. And in s...more
Tracy Smith has written a volume of poetry touching on a favorite theme of mine, life on earth which requires one to stand and let imagination vault into the meaningless distances of outer space. Her book is ultimately about love, I think, concerned as it is with her father who famously worked as an engineer on the Hubble Telescope project. Her poetry here connects the closeness of earth with the reaches of space her father made it possible to see. In that way Smith can be thought of as life on...more
What I find most enlivening about Life on Mars is how naturally and completely Tracy K. Smith erases the line between sci-fi, sci-reality, and contemporary poetry. This isn’t one genre impersonating another. Nor is it a medley that vacillates awkwardly between different idioms. This is a singular work with no confines other than the governing forces of the universe: space, time and gravity.
Ms. Smith doesn’t other the universe as so many of us do—compartmentalizing it into a distant and foreign...more
Ms. Smith doesn’t other the universe as so many of us do—compartmentalizing it into a distant and foreign...more
A theme of my reading in 2013 so far seems to be mortality. Tracy K. Smith's book of poetry revolves around the titular poem, and it's a beautiful meditation on her father's passing, what he was to her, and his fascination with life beyond Earth. The whole book has an air of the astronomical, and it lends a deep weight to each poem (both directly and indirectly). I found it beautiful Saturday afternoon reading, and I highly recommend for someone curious for contemporary poetry.
I finished the book over the weekend, and every single poem felt like a revelation to me. I was particularly taken by "It's Not," "Aubade," "When Your Small Form Tumbled Into Me," and "Us & Co.," but there wasn't a false note in this book. Smith, whose father worked on the Hubble Telescope and passed away four years ago, works so brilliantly in the line between the public and the private, between pop-culture and personal. I don't know that there's much I can add to Dan Chiasson's review of t...more
This book is well placed in a time of space exploration and poetry. A great and unlikely combination, the author relays memories, thoughts, and philosophy of her father working as a scientist on space based projects. God, the stars, David Bowie, all of this comes into play in some way or another, and it catches the minds eye in every possible faculty. A great book with many a great verse and poem.
I loved Smith's poems from the first moment I came across them. She's careful, precise, and beautifully measured. There's balance in this collection. Though partially an expression of grief at her father's death, the poems don't pivot on grief but rather on shared human experiences. Smith tempers reflections on the meta with moments of humor (and a few references to her hero, David Bowie).
Have very high regard for this collection. Adore especially Part 1, and all the David Bowie, life beyond poems. Captures my own heart. (Wish I had written many of these!)
Also was touched by themes on death (especially mourning poems, written with such heart -- w/o being schmaltzy), war.
I borrowed this from the library, but have it as a wish-list, now.
Also was touched by themes on death (especially mourning poems, written with such heart -- w/o being schmaltzy), war.
I borrowed this from the library, but have it as a wish-list, now.
Exquisite. Nailed it. The most perfect book of poetry I have encountered in a mighty long time. Smith takes a bit of ordinary life and weaves it with some gorgeous imagery, some science, some science fiction, and even a few David Bowie references to make life on Earth seem a wondrous journey through time and space.
"Life on Mars" is a book about searching for meaning and purpose in life, the issues that inevitably arise when contemplating the push-pull between love and loss, religion and science, past and present, present and future, and Earth and the rest of the universe. Tracy Smith tackles these abstract concepts by making them tangible through imagery, pop culture references, and her own memories. Her attention to form and space on the page is wonderful. Some of my favorites: "Sci-Fi," "The Speed of B...more
Tracy K. Smith doesn't just understand the magic of words, she understands the magic of the human being. Our very existence is a miracle much larger than we think to acknowledge. Chilling, honest, brutal, and insightful, "Life on Mars" is truly in possession of a quiet wisdom. A series of poems that do not fear identifying us as individual elements in a nebulous land that is both a home and an ever-expanding distant unknown.
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TRACY K. SMITH is the author of two previous collections: Duende, winner of the James Laughlin Award and the Essence Literary Award, and The Bodys Question, winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize. She is also the recipient of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers Award and a Whiting Writers Award, and was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. Smith is currently a protg in...more
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“everything/ that ever was still is, somewhere”
—
9 people liked it
“time never stops, but does it end? and how many lives
before take-off, before we find ourselves
beyond ourselves, all glam-glow, all twinkle and gold?”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
before take-off, before we find ourselves
beyond ourselves, all glam-glow, all twinkle and gold?”
