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There's a Box in the Garage You Can Beat With a Stick
Michael Teig's poems are moving, intelligent, full of delight, and—most refreshingly—a pleasure to read. Stephen Dobyns says of Teig's poems, "they have this ability to make the world fresh again and make us realize why we love the world, despite its failings and our own." When they gave him a shovel
he repaired the ground. When they addressed him in memos
he said I am lonely too. He gave them a shrug
and held a gray cat to his chest
like an alibi. Michael Teig is founding co-editor of jubilat . He won the inaugural A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize.
he repaired the ground. When they addressed him in memos
he said I am lonely too. He gave them a shrug
and held a gray cat to his chest
like an alibi. Michael Teig is founding co-editor of jubilat . He won the inaugural A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize.
- GenresPoetry
136 pages, Paperback
First published October 14, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 26, 2014
I found this book of poetry when searching my library catalog for "poetry" and I have to admit I chose it because of the title.
I really liked these poems. Teig takes everyday objects and spins them around in strange combinations, with thoughtful moments that only make sense when you stop to think about it. And I like poems that make me stop to think. I feel like I could keep this book around and dip into it from time to time.
My favorites:
-There is a day under a box
-all of them nice people I think.
-When I Pass Out I See a Pleasant Vista Heated by Coal
-The sun is an example of what? A light burning over a donut
-My other thought rides a bicycle into a tree
-your staff has misplaced my file
I really liked these poems. Teig takes everyday objects and spins them around in strange combinations, with thoughtful moments that only make sense when you stop to think about it. And I like poems that make me stop to think. I feel like I could keep this book around and dip into it from time to time.
My favorites:
-There is a day under a box
-all of them nice people I think.
"This one an affliction.
This an arboretum.
This one so naive he imagined himself
lit up from within
like a lantern or a mountain
on a barstool..."
-When I Pass Out I See a Pleasant Vista Heated by Coal
"...however monstrous and insufficient and as I
remember it we kept our pants on generally longer
than one should, looking fine, we say, most of us,
and it's true, our pants are lovely."
-The sun is an example of what? A light burning over a donut
-My other thought rides a bicycle into a tree
-your staff has misplaced my file
August 3, 2018
Stephen Dobyns loves these poems. I love Stephen Dobyns. By some mathematics I should be liking this book more.
Let's try a different equation. My brain is a but squishy from epilepsy this week. These poems occasionally come together through taking out essential connecting sentences. They would be fun to read under the influence of all kinds of substances including a late night by a campfire. They are not fun to read when life is effortlessly surreal.
I am keeping the book, however, in the hopes that a third reading when the brain is less turbulent will be more rewarding.
Favorite poems: "your staff has misplaced my file", "Right Now", "Say Uncle".
Let's try a different equation. My brain is a but squishy from epilepsy this week. These poems occasionally come together through taking out essential connecting sentences. They would be fun to read under the influence of all kinds of substances including a late night by a campfire. They are not fun to read when life is effortlessly surreal.
I am keeping the book, however, in the hopes that a third reading when the brain is less turbulent will be more rewarding.
Favorite poems: "your staff has misplaced my file", "Right Now", "Say Uncle".
December 20, 2013
A curious collection of poems--that is, these are poems that are curious: Curious about the world at large, but mostly about the world within one's mind; curious about how to find meaning in experience and curious about how to escape it. Michael Teig's second book is funny and playful; grounded, yet disorienting; quiet and solitary, yet welcoming. Here's one of my favorites, "My Little," from this volume:
Onward I whispered and my
cat seemed weary out among
the philosophers and busboys
on a side street of the evening
in that other incomplete city
where the moths rise up like
retorts from the shrubbery.
Full disclosure: I know this poet. That doesn't mean, however, that I'm lying when I say that this is a fine, fine book.
Onward I whispered and my
cat seemed weary out among
the philosophers and busboys
on a side street of the evening
in that other incomplete city
where the moths rise up like
retorts from the shrubbery.
Full disclosure: I know this poet. That doesn't mean, however, that I'm lying when I say that this is a fine, fine book.
November 1, 2015
Wacky, unexpected poems that almost always strike surprise. Much more accessible than John Ashbery.
September 20, 2019
It's hard for me to say anything helpful about this book: it's reminiscent of Ashbery, and I like Ashbery. I'm okay with poems that don't "make sense" or cohere to a linear narrative, or even narrative at all. I like fresh imagery, and this has tons of that, along with surprising turns of phrase. But on the whole, this never added up to a book that felt satisfying to me, complete. Lots of others have raved about this book, so I must be missing something. There were plenty of poems where I loved lines, sections, bits and pieces. But nothing that stood out to me whole. Just not my style, I guess.
September 15, 2020
4/5
Found these poems a fair bit stranger and less accessible than Teig's first collection, but I kind of liked the strangeness. Still prefer the first book though.
Found these poems a fair bit stranger and less accessible than Teig's first collection, but I kind of liked the strangeness. Still prefer the first book though.
January 8, 2019
a very wonderland type collection of poems where nothing makes sense but somehow they do.
this book is lots of fun though it may make you say what the..it's lots of fun and oddly confessional w/ very creative titles.
'a widow's poor memory might
leave her at the table some mornings,
a lovely blue still burning off and
outside a new small boy clasping
an orange in his hands like a planet. '
-from 'I Start Over Simply by Loving the Cat'
this book is lots of fun though it may make you say what the..it's lots of fun and oddly confessional w/ very creative titles.
'a widow's poor memory might
leave her at the table some mornings,
a lovely blue still burning off and
outside a new small boy clasping
an orange in his hands like a planet. '
-from 'I Start Over Simply by Loving the Cat'
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews