What do you think?
Rate this book
Open mike night at the Cabaret Voltaire: Poems
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1996
1 person want to read
About the author
David Starkey
40 books18 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
David Starkey directs the creative writing program at Santa Barbara City College.
Among his poetry collections are Starkey's Book of States (Boson Books, 2007), Adventures of the Minor Poet (Artamo Press, 2007), Ways of Being Dead: New and Selected Poems (Artamo, 2006), David Starkey's Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2002) and Fear of Everything, winner of Palanquin Press's Spring 2000 chapbook contest. A Few Things You Should Know about the Weasel will be published by the Canadian press Biblioasis next year.
In addition, over the past twenty years he has published more than 400 poems in literary journals such as American Scholar, Antioch Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Cutbank, Faultline, Greensboro Review, The Journal, Massachusetts Review, Mid-American Review, Nebraska Review, Notre Dame Review, Poet Lore, Poetry East, South Dakota Review, Southern Humanities Review, Southern Poetry Review, Sycamore Review, Texas Review, and Wormwood Review. He has also written two textbooks: Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008) and Poetry Writing: Theme and Variations (McGraw-Hill, 1999). With Paul Willis, he co-edited In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare (Iowa, 2005), and he is the editor of Living Blue in the Red States (Nebraska, 2007). Keywords in Creative Writing, which he co-authored with the late Wendy Bishop, was published in 2006 by Utah State University Press.
David Starkey directs the creative writing program at Santa Barbara City College.
Among his poetry collections are Starkey's Book of States (Boson Books, 2007), Adventures of the Minor Poet (Artamo Press, 2007), Ways of Being Dead: New and Selected Poems (Artamo, 2006), David Starkey's Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2002) and Fear of Everything, winner of Palanquin Press's Spring 2000 chapbook contest. A Few Things You Should Know about the Weasel will be published by the Canadian press Biblioasis next year.
In addition, over the past twenty years he has published more than 400 poems in literary journals such as American Scholar, Antioch Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Cutbank, Faultline, Greensboro Review, The Journal, Massachusetts Review, Mid-American Review, Nebraska Review, Notre Dame Review, Poet Lore, Poetry East, South Dakota Review, Southern Humanities Review, Southern Poetry Review, Sycamore Review, Texas Review, and Wormwood Review. He has also written two textbooks: Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008) and Poetry Writing: Theme and Variations (McGraw-Hill, 1999). With Paul Willis, he co-edited In a Fine Frenzy: Poets Respond to Shakespeare (Iowa, 2005), and he is the editor of Living Blue in the Red States (Nebraska, 2007). Keywords in Creative Writing, which he co-authored with the late Wendy Bishop, was published in 2006 by Utah State University Press.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 22, 2019
After having completed the book, I can say the poems in, “Open Mike Night at the Cabaret Voltaire” are excellent choices due to their rich diversity from other poetry books.
A majority of the poems have almost a dark humor/tone to them. My favorite example of this is in “Extended Stay”. In the poem it is talking about a place that is “halfway between Nowhere and Nowhere else”, a place where people pass through and never stay. The poem goes on to tell that one couple did decide to stay longer than a night and gives reasons of perhaps why they stayed. Throughout the poem the reader finds out that something happened to this couple that is causing them to have to stay, but the reader doesn’t realize this until the very end of the poem that the reason they are there is because they are now ghost at the motel.
The subject matter is so different that anyone would be able to find a poem they liked. The first example of this is a section with poems about a drunk man as he goes through life. These poems range from humorous to sad to wondering what is going on. This section consists of 15 poems that follow the alcoholic through his life. It starts with his childhood and what caused him to turn to alcohol and ends with his funeral where people are mourning his amusing actions that they will miss instead of mourning the loss of the man. In the poem “Lagniappe” the poet talks about Louisiana, night time, and how “the Gulf has gone crazy”. In the end the poet is describing what the “I” of the poem, felt during a hurricane by using vivid langue which allows the reader to experience the fear of being stuck in a hurricane in the dead of night that the “I” felt.
Each page has a conceptual drawing that represents a unique idea from that poem. Having a drawing on every page allows to reader to use that image to further immerse themselves in the idea and tone the poet creates. “I Dream I Am a Woman Dreaming” and “Extended Stay” were among my favorites. In “I Dream I Am a Woman Dreaming” the illustration depicts a pair of high heals under water with fish and a man swimming around them. The line from the poem that connects the drawing to the picture is “One of those who reclines at ease”, meaning they are able to fall asleep easily and have vivid, lucid dreams. “Extended Stay” has a very simple picture of an older Nikon camera with a simple thin strap, next to a camera bag. I like this rudimentary illustration with the poem because it can be interpreted in many ways. In my understanding the camera and bag were left behind by the travelers and it holds the memories of what was, just how the motel over time turned to ruins.
A majority of the poems have almost a dark humor/tone to them. My favorite example of this is in “Extended Stay”. In the poem it is talking about a place that is “halfway between Nowhere and Nowhere else”, a place where people pass through and never stay. The poem goes on to tell that one couple did decide to stay longer than a night and gives reasons of perhaps why they stayed. Throughout the poem the reader finds out that something happened to this couple that is causing them to have to stay, but the reader doesn’t realize this until the very end of the poem that the reason they are there is because they are now ghost at the motel.
The subject matter is so different that anyone would be able to find a poem they liked. The first example of this is a section with poems about a drunk man as he goes through life. These poems range from humorous to sad to wondering what is going on. This section consists of 15 poems that follow the alcoholic through his life. It starts with his childhood and what caused him to turn to alcohol and ends with his funeral where people are mourning his amusing actions that they will miss instead of mourning the loss of the man. In the poem “Lagniappe” the poet talks about Louisiana, night time, and how “the Gulf has gone crazy”. In the end the poet is describing what the “I” of the poem, felt during a hurricane by using vivid langue which allows the reader to experience the fear of being stuck in a hurricane in the dead of night that the “I” felt.
Each page has a conceptual drawing that represents a unique idea from that poem. Having a drawing on every page allows to reader to use that image to further immerse themselves in the idea and tone the poet creates. “I Dream I Am a Woman Dreaming” and “Extended Stay” were among my favorites. In “I Dream I Am a Woman Dreaming” the illustration depicts a pair of high heals under water with fish and a man swimming around them. The line from the poem that connects the drawing to the picture is “One of those who reclines at ease”, meaning they are able to fall asleep easily and have vivid, lucid dreams. “Extended Stay” has a very simple picture of an older Nikon camera with a simple thin strap, next to a camera bag. I like this rudimentary illustration with the poem because it can be interpreted in many ways. In my understanding the camera and bag were left behind by the travelers and it holds the memories of what was, just how the motel over time turned to ruins.
Displaying 1 of 1 review