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Directing Herbert White: Poems
The debut poetry collection by the actor, director, and writer James Franco
I’m a nocturnal creature,
And I’m here to cheat time.
You can see time and exhaustion
Taking pay from my face—
In fifty years
My sleep will be death,
I’ll go like the rest,
But I’ll have played
All the games and all the roles.
—from “Nocturnal”
“There’s never been a book quite like this. Hollywood—fame, celebrity, the promise of becoming an artist—is the beast at its center. Franco knows it like Melville knows whaling. Hollywood in this book devours its young. Obsessed with myths about its own past, it can be survived only by finding a vantage point that is not Hollywood. Bold yet subtle, fearless yet disarming, Franco has made a book you will never forget.” —Frank Bidart
“A star-studded cast moves like ghosts across the screen of James Franco's poetic consciousness, imbuing the writing with scenes of icons who are also humans replete with sorrow and presence in our own psyches. James Dean, Monica Vitti, Catherine Deneuve, Sal Mineo, Heath Ledger, pass and fade. The author has a wonderful self-reflexive insouciance about his own fame and roles inhabited, from Hart Crane to Allen Ginsberg to Harvey Milk's lover. Franco is a gifted contemporary Renaissance kind of guy, surveying the waterfront of illusion, suffering, and impermanance. We leave the movie theater a little wiser.” —Anne Waldman
I’m a nocturnal creature,
And I’m here to cheat time.
You can see time and exhaustion
Taking pay from my face—
In fifty years
My sleep will be death,
I’ll go like the rest,
But I’ll have played
All the games and all the roles.
—from “Nocturnal”
“There’s never been a book quite like this. Hollywood—fame, celebrity, the promise of becoming an artist—is the beast at its center. Franco knows it like Melville knows whaling. Hollywood in this book devours its young. Obsessed with myths about its own past, it can be survived only by finding a vantage point that is not Hollywood. Bold yet subtle, fearless yet disarming, Franco has made a book you will never forget.” —Frank Bidart
“A star-studded cast moves like ghosts across the screen of James Franco's poetic consciousness, imbuing the writing with scenes of icons who are also humans replete with sorrow and presence in our own psyches. James Dean, Monica Vitti, Catherine Deneuve, Sal Mineo, Heath Ledger, pass and fade. The author has a wonderful self-reflexive insouciance about his own fame and roles inhabited, from Hart Crane to Allen Ginsberg to Harvey Milk's lover. Franco is a gifted contemporary Renaissance kind of guy, surveying the waterfront of illusion, suffering, and impermanance. We leave the movie theater a little wiser.” —Anne Waldman
96 pages, Paperback
First published March 18, 2014
17 people are currently reading
1066 people want to read
About the author
James Franco
49 books984 followersJames Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, author, and painter. He began acting during the late 1990s, appearing on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and starring in several teen films. In 2001 he played the title role in Mark Rydell's television biographical film James Dean, which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film.
Franco achieved international fame with his portrayal of Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man trilogy. Since then, his films have included the war film The Great Raid (2005), the 2006 romantic drama Tristan & Isolde, and Justin Lin's drama Annapolis (2006). In 2008, Franco starred in the comedy stoner film Pineapple Express and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He played a prominent role in the 2008 biographical film Milk. In 2010, he played the lead role in Howl as Allen Ginsberg, and 127 Hours, a film about Aron Ralston, an American mountaineer who cut off his own arm to free himself after he was trapped beneath a boulder. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.
In 2010, Franco published a collection of short stories called Palo Alto. The book is named after the California city where Franco grew up and is dedicated to many of the writers he worked with at Brooklyn College. The book has received mixed reviews; Los Angeles Times called it "the work of an ambitious young man who clearly loves to read, who has a good eye for detail, but who has spent way too much time on style and virtually none on substance". The Guardian said that "The Hollywood star's foray into the literary world may be met with cynicism in some quarters, but this is a promising debut from a most unlikely source."
Franco achieved international fame with his portrayal of Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man trilogy. Since then, his films have included the war film The Great Raid (2005), the 2006 romantic drama Tristan & Isolde, and Justin Lin's drama Annapolis (2006). In 2008, Franco starred in the comedy stoner film Pineapple Express and received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. He played a prominent role in the 2008 biographical film Milk. In 2010, he played the lead role in Howl as Allen Ginsberg, and 127 Hours, a film about Aron Ralston, an American mountaineer who cut off his own arm to free himself after he was trapped beneath a boulder. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.
In 2010, Franco published a collection of short stories called Palo Alto. The book is named after the California city where Franco grew up and is dedicated to many of the writers he worked with at Brooklyn College. The book has received mixed reviews; Los Angeles Times called it "the work of an ambitious young man who clearly loves to read, who has a good eye for detail, but who has spent way too much time on style and virtually none on substance". The Guardian said that "The Hollywood star's foray into the literary world may be met with cynicism in some quarters, but this is a promising debut from a most unlikely source."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
January 30, 2015
James Franco was really good in Pineapple Express. In this book he writes some poetry. He was really good in Pineapple Express.
June 24, 2017
The reason I chose to read this book was because James Franco had written it and I’m slightly obsessed with the Franco brothers. I wasn’t aware until finishing the book that many people thought the poems were awful. Having read many reviews dissing Franco as a poet; I have to say I completely disagree.
I am not an expert on poetry, but that does not make me enjoy and understand the basic meaning of the poem any less. In fact, I very much enjoyed the poems and I’m saying that as a poetry reader not a James Franco fan. The poems seemed more relatable/real than any other I’ve ever read. They were not pretentious in any way- so anybody could read them. Maybe people didn’t like them because they didn’t have all these poetic techniques or whatever, but I think poems are about expressing yourself and James certainly did that. He even expressed vulnerability, which I never expected to see from Franco.
In this book I discovered my now favourite poem called ‘Because’. This is the first poem in the book and I immediately loved it because it was so different to anything else; you couldn’t compare it. The language is how people actually talk in real life, it’s not a load of fancy words that don’t even make sense. This poem conveyed so much emotion- it felt really raw, sort of bitter. I think all the poems allow us to see the different layers to James’s personality, plus I don’t think he’s holding anything back. The passion in each poem is clear, you can tell he freely wrote the poems down with all of his emotions.
I found it interesting that in the poem ‘Fake’, he wrote:
there is a fake version of me
and he's the one that writes
these poems
I can imagine doing a very vigorous analysis of this in English. Those few lines capture so much of James as a person. Sometimes I felt like there was a double meaning to his poems, but I’m not sure if I was reading into it too much. It is still easy to understand though. That was the probably the main reason why I like this book so much!
I am not an expert on poetry, but that does not make me enjoy and understand the basic meaning of the poem any less. In fact, I very much enjoyed the poems and I’m saying that as a poetry reader not a James Franco fan. The poems seemed more relatable/real than any other I’ve ever read. They were not pretentious in any way- so anybody could read them. Maybe people didn’t like them because they didn’t have all these poetic techniques or whatever, but I think poems are about expressing yourself and James certainly did that. He even expressed vulnerability, which I never expected to see from Franco.
In this book I discovered my now favourite poem called ‘Because’. This is the first poem in the book and I immediately loved it because it was so different to anything else; you couldn’t compare it. The language is how people actually talk in real life, it’s not a load of fancy words that don’t even make sense. This poem conveyed so much emotion- it felt really raw, sort of bitter. I think all the poems allow us to see the different layers to James’s personality, plus I don’t think he’s holding anything back. The passion in each poem is clear, you can tell he freely wrote the poems down with all of his emotions.
I found it interesting that in the poem ‘Fake’, he wrote:
there is a fake version of me
and he's the one that writes
these poems
I can imagine doing a very vigorous analysis of this in English. Those few lines capture so much of James as a person. Sometimes I felt like there was a double meaning to his poems, but I’m not sure if I was reading into it too much. It is still easy to understand though. That was the probably the main reason why I like this book so much!
May 2, 2014
Sorry, James. Might want to stick to acting.
September 2, 2016
Yes, I actually read this whole thing. True to form, it is very much James talking about himself. Even if he's talking about other, better actors, he's talking about himself. Though he suffers in the comparison. Many of these "poems" pretend to be interview segments explaining his most pretentious movie work, made poetic only by the amount of white space. Some of it is gossip about Heath Ledger, and particularly Lindsay Lohan, who btw could have written a much more interesting volume. Unbelievably, his mini series of poems named after Smiths songs are the best of the lot. They're the one time it's not all about him. There are a series of sonnets to movies covering anything you'd expect a hipster to crow about while trying to get laid at NYU (where he went to school, unsurprisingly). There are bits of camp fun where James interrupts some monologue about Lohan or something, remembers he's writing a poem, and adds some unrelated BS like, "The woman stands in her kitchen/kneading, baking." I've been to open mic nights, this is not the worst poetry I've heard, or seen issued by a small press. But even if this had been submitted anonymously, we'd all figure out who wrote it.
June 15, 2015
Let's be honest, this book got a shot because I was curious as to what James Franco poetry would look like. And as it is, it's really not that bad. Sure, it's privileged, self-conscious, and all that other stuff's people said about it, but a majority of the poems are also good, which supersedes those other pejoratives. Not every poem in this book is a winner, but there are a more than a few that are.
August 11, 2016
Since these poems are about Franco's personal experiences you'd think they (the poems) might lean toward the megalomaniacal. Not at all. You're "supposed" to write about what you know, and Franco does just that. His main topic is acting, although he clearly enjoys the occasional jaunt through the time machine.
I caught glimpses of vulnerability and frailty in here which surprised me. The boisterous bravado you'd typically expect from Franco is distinctly (almost peculiarly) muted.
Franco exposes his fears and insecurities in such a way that shakes down the Hollywood myth to reveal the humbled man.
* * *
My favorite poem of his is:
"Fake"
There is a fake version of me
And he's the one that writes
These poems.
He has an attitude and swagger
That I don't have.
But on the page, this fake me
Is the me that speaks.
And this fake is louder
Than the real me, and he
Is the one that everyone knows.
Because everyone treats me
Like I'm the fake one.
I caught glimpses of vulnerability and frailty in here which surprised me. The boisterous bravado you'd typically expect from Franco is distinctly (almost peculiarly) muted.
Franco exposes his fears and insecurities in such a way that shakes down the Hollywood myth to reveal the humbled man.
* * *
My favorite poem of his is:
"Fake"
There is a fake version of me
And he's the one that writes
These poems.
He has an attitude and swagger
That I don't have.
But on the page, this fake me
Is the me that speaks.
And this fake is louder
Than the real me, and he
Is the one that everyone knows.
Because everyone treats me
Like I'm the fake one.
November 15, 2016
James, I didn't know...
March 28, 2014
Really liked the first half of the book. He's a fine writer and will mature into a finer one.
March 28, 2015
I heard about this book when I was viewing a clip on YouTube from the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon with James Franco as a guest and he mentioned this book and how one of the five Masters Degrees from Yale is in Poetry. Jimmy was about to read a poem from the book, but James stopped him and from that point on my curiosity was sparked enough that I just had to read the book. James is very insightful in a whimsical way which made this book very fun to read. James said so much in poetry that if he wrote this book as a personal memoir, it would have been over 500 pages. It's amazing that one person can say so much in so little words which proves that he put his Masters in poetry to good use. I found it very interesting that he referenced his movies and certain actors such as Milk and Pineapple Express to Lindsay Lohan and Brad Renfro. A read that is short and sweet and entertaining enough to not put down!
December 27, 2017
Not my type of book. Seemed indulgent and not actually written to be read by others. Don’t recommend.
June 16, 2022
Me when James Franco (while pointing a gun at my head) asks me if his poetry is good:
I did myself a favor and saved the shortest book for last, which meant that after pushing myself through two long, grueling books comprised of James Franco's ramblings, I only had to bare through his mediocre poetry. It was one final slap in the face to finish it nicely, and now I can go around and brag that I've read all of James Franco's writing that I could get my hands on. I am patiently waiting for my financial compensation to be sent to me, because I deserve it after stomaching not one, not two, but THREE of his books. Impressive, I know.
Just like with Actor's Anonymous, this book wasn't so bad that it was insulting in my eyes, but it wasn't very good. The poetry was pretty mediocre for the most part, and the poems that didn't bore me were just plain weird. Franco didn't really try that hard to actually write a good poetry collection; he just wrote down some of his thoughts and broke the sentences up in random places so that it would seem "poetic" and "deep." A majority of the poems follow the "James Franco route," as I've dubbed it, in which instead of talking about an interesting topic, or at the very least being creative, they just revolve around Franco's own narcissism. He spent time fawning over himself and talking about himself and praising himself and bragging about himself and making him seem cool and mysterious and mentioning a million times how much the world loves him. It was really boring. I get it James, your ego's really big and you think you're a gift to the world.
Here's an example of one of these poems, and it gives off that "I'm not like other people" vibe. He's trying to make himself look mysterious and misunderstood, but it comes off to me like there was a minimum number of pages Franco needed to reach and he was a few pages short so he started spewing nonsense. I also find this poem funny because he talks about how everyone "treats the real me like the fake me" as if that's not something that happens to every single person. I also can't take the "the fake version of me writes these poems" part, because I can't help but imagine a robot James Franco sitting at a desk and writing poetry in a notebook.
Fake
"There is a fake version of me
And he’s the one that writes
These poems.
He has an attitude and swagger
That I don’t have.
But on the page, this fake me
Is the me that speaks.
And this fake me is louder
Than the real me, and he
Is the one that everyone knows.
He’s become the real me
Because everyone treats me
Like I’m the fake me."
At this point we all know that there can't be a James Franco book without every other line being grotesque or sexual, because god forbid Franco doesn't know how else to make his writing interesting. There was an unfortunate amount of poems that talked about or referenced sex, he made inappropriate metaphors using genitals, he went way too into detail regarding Herbert White and his sexual "experiences," and Franco even went as far as to mention his dick in one of the poems. Ah, classic James, am I right? There was even one poem which (for some reason) talked about two pet rats who had babies, and then one of the babies got the mother pregnant. At least it was entertaining to read about.
“Instead you have a bunch of mice at home
That had started as two, but they fucked.
Then there were twenty little pink mice in the cage.
It smelled, and you sprayed it with Right Guard.
You separated the dad from the mom, so that it wouldn’t happen again
But then the mom’s belly got big again with more pink things
Because one of the babies fucked her.
Think of that son,
Half her size, with barely any hair,
Riding her from behind,
Not knowing why,
But doing it because he is the strongest of the litter."
I will say that there was ONE poem that I actually thought was good, and that was "When My Father Died." It was evident that this poem was really personal, which is understandable, and I could actually feel Franco's emotions through the writing. After sitting through a bajillion god awful poems, this one was a breath of fresh air, and even though it was about what is probably one of the saddest moments of Franco's life, it still felt so genuine. He clearly cared about this poem and spent time crafting it, and it shows. I was quite taken aback because I was not expecting something of this quality, and I'm not usually moved by poetry, so you know that I'm genuine when I say that I liked it. I never thought I would use the words/phrases "quality," "breath of fresh air," "genuine," and "spent time on" when talking about Franco's writing, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Good job James, you actually put something decent into one of your books.
To finish this review off I'm going to share some of my *favorite* quotes from this book. Enjoy! >:D
"Go ahead you bookworm punk
Blogger faggot, go ahead you
Thuggish paparazzi scumbag
With your tattoos and your
Unwashed ass-"
"My retainer flew from my mouth,
And I let it lie on the side of the road."
"First I bored everyone
And then at the end
I put in a shot of my dick
And another one with some blood."
"He takes her to dinner and sleeps with him
For money. First it was the one man and then
Many men. That’s called prostitution."
"...Said he couldn’t believe you
Had been cast in all those
Straight roles, because
In Milk you were such
A fine Homo."
"Low slung with bodies, like scrotums, no, like bells ready to clang."
Well, I guess it could have been worse, and I'm so happy that it wasn't. Part of myself died inside while reading Palo Alto and Actor's Anonymous, and although I still died a bit inside because of this book, it wasn't nearly that bad. I was a bit intrigued about this whole "Herbert White" thing he kept referencing throughout the book, so I took the liberty to do EXTRA RESEARCH and I not only read the poem but I watched the film, which thankfully was only like 10 minutes long. The poem was trash, really written for shock value more than anything else, and I'm not surprised that James felt drawn to it. It was just the story of a sociopath who kills people and rapes their corpses, and I skimmed over it rather than really reading it because I don't hate myself. The film, on the other hand, was just Michael Shannon using an excavator and doing random things. Thankfully it was a rather tame film, because just the thought of what could have been in the film was enough to make me puke.
I did myself a favor and saved the shortest book for last, which meant that after pushing myself through two long, grueling books comprised of James Franco's ramblings, I only had to bare through his mediocre poetry. It was one final slap in the face to finish it nicely, and now I can go around and brag that I've read all of James Franco's writing that I could get my hands on. I am patiently waiting for my financial compensation to be sent to me, because I deserve it after stomaching not one, not two, but THREE of his books. Impressive, I know.
Just like with Actor's Anonymous, this book wasn't so bad that it was insulting in my eyes, but it wasn't very good. The poetry was pretty mediocre for the most part, and the poems that didn't bore me were just plain weird. Franco didn't really try that hard to actually write a good poetry collection; he just wrote down some of his thoughts and broke the sentences up in random places so that it would seem "poetic" and "deep." A majority of the poems follow the "James Franco route," as I've dubbed it, in which instead of talking about an interesting topic, or at the very least being creative, they just revolve around Franco's own narcissism. He spent time fawning over himself and talking about himself and praising himself and bragging about himself and making him seem cool and mysterious and mentioning a million times how much the world loves him. It was really boring. I get it James, your ego's really big and you think you're a gift to the world.
Here's an example of one of these poems, and it gives off that "I'm not like other people" vibe. He's trying to make himself look mysterious and misunderstood, but it comes off to me like there was a minimum number of pages Franco needed to reach and he was a few pages short so he started spewing nonsense. I also find this poem funny because he talks about how everyone "treats the real me like the fake me" as if that's not something that happens to every single person. I also can't take the "the fake version of me writes these poems" part, because I can't help but imagine a robot James Franco sitting at a desk and writing poetry in a notebook.
Fake
"There is a fake version of me
And he’s the one that writes
These poems.
He has an attitude and swagger
That I don’t have.
But on the page, this fake me
Is the me that speaks.
And this fake me is louder
Than the real me, and he
Is the one that everyone knows.
He’s become the real me
Because everyone treats me
Like I’m the fake me."
At this point we all know that there can't be a James Franco book without every other line being grotesque or sexual, because god forbid Franco doesn't know how else to make his writing interesting. There was an unfortunate amount of poems that talked about or referenced sex, he made inappropriate metaphors using genitals, he went way too into detail regarding Herbert White and his sexual "experiences," and Franco even went as far as to mention his dick in one of the poems. Ah, classic James, am I right? There was even one poem which (for some reason) talked about two pet rats who had babies, and then one of the babies got the mother pregnant. At least it was entertaining to read about.
“Instead you have a bunch of mice at home
That had started as two, but they fucked.
Then there were twenty little pink mice in the cage.
It smelled, and you sprayed it with Right Guard.
You separated the dad from the mom, so that it wouldn’t happen again
But then the mom’s belly got big again with more pink things
Because one of the babies fucked her.
Think of that son,
Half her size, with barely any hair,
Riding her from behind,
Not knowing why,
But doing it because he is the strongest of the litter."
I will say that there was ONE poem that I actually thought was good, and that was "When My Father Died." It was evident that this poem was really personal, which is understandable, and I could actually feel Franco's emotions through the writing. After sitting through a bajillion god awful poems, this one was a breath of fresh air, and even though it was about what is probably one of the saddest moments of Franco's life, it still felt so genuine. He clearly cared about this poem and spent time crafting it, and it shows. I was quite taken aback because I was not expecting something of this quality, and I'm not usually moved by poetry, so you know that I'm genuine when I say that I liked it. I never thought I would use the words/phrases "quality," "breath of fresh air," "genuine," and "spent time on" when talking about Franco's writing, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Good job James, you actually put something decent into one of your books.
To finish this review off I'm going to share some of my *favorite* quotes from this book. Enjoy! >:D
"Go ahead you bookworm punk
Blogger faggot, go ahead you
Thuggish paparazzi scumbag
With your tattoos and your
Unwashed ass-"
"My retainer flew from my mouth,
And I let it lie on the side of the road."
"First I bored everyone
And then at the end
I put in a shot of my dick
And another one with some blood."
"He takes her to dinner and sleeps with him
For money. First it was the one man and then
Many men. That’s called prostitution."
"...Said he couldn’t believe you
Had been cast in all those
Straight roles, because
In Milk you were such
A fine Homo."
"Low slung with bodies, like scrotums, no, like bells ready to clang."
Well, I guess it could have been worse, and I'm so happy that it wasn't. Part of myself died inside while reading Palo Alto and Actor's Anonymous, and although I still died a bit inside because of this book, it wasn't nearly that bad. I was a bit intrigued about this whole "Herbert White" thing he kept referencing throughout the book, so I took the liberty to do EXTRA RESEARCH and I not only read the poem but I watched the film, which thankfully was only like 10 minutes long. The poem was trash, really written for shock value more than anything else, and I'm not surprised that James felt drawn to it. It was just the story of a sociopath who kills people and rapes their corpses, and I skimmed over it rather than really reading it because I don't hate myself. The film, on the other hand, was just Michael Shannon using an excavator and doing random things. Thankfully it was a rather tame film, because just the thought of what could have been in the film was enough to make me puke.
July 27, 2021
I find it hard to rate poetry, for one because I am no poet nor do I claim to be a connoisseur in poetry, half the time the meanings fly over my head; and secondly, I feel poetry is a form of expression and emotion. The person writing is being vulnerable, releasing emotions, sharing their innermost thoughts, etc. So even if it seems flat or immature to the reader, I don't think it's fair to say it "sucks". I found this book to be pretty enjoyable. I came across this book while searching for an audiobook James Franco narrates at my local library and it was available to borrow so I figured Id check it out.
August 30, 2018
Certainly not the best poetry collection I've read. Even though I didn't like his writing style, I still found interesting his description of with fame and his experience with it. I learned a lot about James but also how it could feel like to be famous.
stricken
March 13, 2020reason stricken: bad vibes
Read
December 1, 2025his poem based on the smiths were actually good…
September 29, 2023
Disturbing.
Want to read
August 25, 2017Several of Franco's poems have titles from songs by The Smiths: "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out"; "Please Please Please"; "Girlfriend in a Coma". This makes sense. If there's one person with whom the performance-art persona of a tortured intellectual celebrity would identify, it's Morrissey.
One of the Smiths poems, "Ask", recalls an ungainly sexual memory: "Love came – like viscosity filling a tube – / And you killed it with a bunch of thrusts." That violent ugliness feels like a reverberation from an earlier poem in the book, "Marlon Brando": "We want our poetic selves / Destroyed by handsome brutes / In wife-beaters and oiled hair, / The poetry of being f----- to death." At this point, I began to feel queasy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...
One of the Smiths poems, "Ask", recalls an ungainly sexual memory: "Love came – like viscosity filling a tube – / And you killed it with a bunch of thrusts." That violent ugliness feels like a reverberation from an earlier poem in the book, "Marlon Brando": "We want our poetic selves / Destroyed by handsome brutes / In wife-beaters and oiled hair, / The poetry of being f----- to death." At this point, I began to feel queasy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...
Read
August 19, 2023"Now I am watching my little film festival. / And I'm my biggest fan."
"Like Tennessee and Blanche / we want our poetic selves / Destroyed by handsome brutes"
"Children write things in all places. / Fuck you Ronny. For a good time call."
"Age sixteen, / I found I had the love life of the octopus, / Groping and grappling,"
"You were smart enough to know / Not to give too much: / That ordering pizza / In class was the move / That would last."
"An important artist has important despair, and everything / He does can go on the screen: sex, religion, fear."
"You were an artist / For a moment. / Was it too much? / Was it the drugs / That helped you? / The drugs that killed you? / Was it the acting? / Was it all of us, / Outside the screen / Just watching?"
"Like Tennessee and Blanche / we want our poetic selves / Destroyed by handsome brutes"
"Children write things in all places. / Fuck you Ronny. For a good time call."
"Age sixteen, / I found I had the love life of the octopus, / Groping and grappling,"
"You were smart enough to know / Not to give too much: / That ordering pizza / In class was the move / That would last."
"An important artist has important despair, and everything / He does can go on the screen: sex, religion, fear."
"You were an artist / For a moment. / Was it too much? / Was it the drugs / That helped you? / The drugs that killed you? / Was it the acting? / Was it all of us, / Outside the screen / Just watching?"
December 31, 2014
James Franco's book of poems, Directing Herbert White, is actually really good. You can tell at multiple points how pretentious and narcissistic the author is (I mean this is James Franco), but such momentary annoyances are quickly eclipsed by the power of the pieces.
On a technical level alot of them stumble around a bit, but damn does he know how to end a poem. I found the hair standing up on the back of my neck on multiple occasions. Definitely recommend this book
On a technical level alot of them stumble around a bit, but damn does he know how to end a poem. I found the hair standing up on the back of my neck on multiple occasions. Definitely recommend this book
April 11, 2023
"Fake
There is a fake version of me
And he's the one that writes
These poems
He has an attitude and swagger
That I don't have.
But on the page, this fake me
Is the me that speaks.
And this fake me is louder
Than the real me, and he
Is the one that everyone knows.
He's become the real me
Because everyone treats me
Like I'm the fake me"
There is a fake version of me
And he's the one that writes
These poems
He has an attitude and swagger
That I don't have.
But on the page, this fake me
Is the me that speaks.
And this fake me is louder
Than the real me, and he
Is the one that everyone knows.
He's become the real me
Because everyone treats me
Like I'm the fake me"
November 24, 2015
Read this whole thing off the shelf in a Barnes and Noble... I'm an asshole huh?
It was short as hell and not that good. A few gem lines to maybe make it above average for poetry, I don't know.
It was short as hell and not that good. A few gem lines to maybe make it above average for poetry, I don't know.
dnf
February 11, 2023DNFed @ page 30 of 96
ZERO stars
his poetry style is interesting but I don't like how sexual it is.
Couldn't finish it
🤷🏻♂️
ZERO stars
his poetry style is interesting but I don't like how sexual it is.
Couldn't finish it
🤷🏻♂️
September 6, 2017
So fascinatingly, yet awkwardly, beautiful. I love it when he tries to get inside the minds of other people and write from their perspectives and experiences, because, really, the way he must think these people think is truly bizarre at times. Most of the time, actually. I can't even tell if he loves, hates, or would even self-describe himself as belonging to the human species. Maybe he's just a hot, weird alien trying to learn Human English.
I now feel that I must write a poem about James Franco from James Franco's perspective of how one of his character's would view him. Or how Lindsay Lohan would. Because there is a long, drawn-out (and highly unflattering and downright depressing even) poem he wrote about her as if it were coming from her own lost soul. I really liked that poem though. So did my best friend. We read it on my back porch multiple times.
I'm probably going to have to buy this book. To much entertainment value not too. Even the few poems that start out kind of boring end up in places I'd never expect. James Franco, I may not be able to read you, but I will continue to read your work.
I now feel that I must write a poem about James Franco from James Franco's perspective of how one of his character's would view him. Or how Lindsay Lohan would. Because there is a long, drawn-out (and highly unflattering and downright depressing even) poem he wrote about her as if it were coming from her own lost soul. I really liked that poem though. So did my best friend. We read it on my back porch multiple times.
I'm probably going to have to buy this book. To much entertainment value not too. Even the few poems that start out kind of boring end up in places I'd never expect. James Franco, I may not be able to read you, but I will continue to read your work.
December 13, 2024
With a few exceptions, most of the poems feel half-baked and underwhelming. This is unfortunate because Franco, despite his incredibly polarizing and controversial reputation, does have genuine talent as a writer. I think his prose, while inspired by Raymond Carver, is intriguing and tackles some dark topics. His poetry, however, mixes the simplistic stylings of someone like Carver but tries to maintain a “deepness” that feels muddled and unnecessary. Some of the poems also feel a little… um… strange. Maybe it was Franco wrestling with his ego or maybe it was him just being egotistical. I’m not really sure.
Dude does have 7 degrees though and I would’ve loved to have taken his course at NYU if he was still teaching there.
Not nearly as interesting as “Palo Alto”, but the book did contain a myriad of literary and film references that have been added to my watch/read list. So, that’s cool. If nothing else, I respect Franco’s taste.
2 stars.
Dude does have 7 degrees though and I would’ve loved to have taken his course at NYU if he was still teaching there.
Not nearly as interesting as “Palo Alto”, but the book did contain a myriad of literary and film references that have been added to my watch/read list. So, that’s cool. If nothing else, I respect Franco’s taste.
2 stars.
January 26, 2018
I wouldn't say James Franco is a totally horrible poet. Structurally, it's not the worst I've ever read, his use of imagery is okay and his word choice is fine. To be honest, it's not even the worst poetry by a celebrity I've read. He's writing about his experience and I think that's what throws me off the most. His experience is totally unrelatable, which makes sense considering his vocation. It really doesn't make you feel anything for what he's writing. On top of that, he writes a lot of poetry directed at other celebrities or from the perspective of another celebrity, sometimes ones that he's never met, and this is pretty cringe-y. Like a new rapper who raps as Tupac or Biggies, telling them how great they are. Overall it's kind of a mess and has little to offer, but it's not the worst I've read.
September 16, 2017
James Franco is definitely not the best poet, but I did enjoy his poems. He was incredibly honest and vulnerable in each one, and I didn't my expect that. Although I wish his poems were more cohesive or focused rather than scattered like they were, I did find his stream of consciousness sort of writing style very interesting, and it seemed to make him even MORE honest than he already was. His poem "Fake" was absolutely brilliant- it might even be my favorite poem ever written. I even stuck a sticky note on its page so I can easily find it. I also liked the last few lines of his poem about Heath Ledger where he was wondering if the drugs helped him or killed him and contemplated the negative effects of fame.
February 16, 2019
It’s like one of James Franco’s friends found his rough notebook of bored doodles and got it published as an embarrassing joke. There’s no way this would exist if JF wasn’t famous - it’s almost in the category of ‘so bad it’s good’, but not quite hilarious enough. Some poems come close though, especially the ones about Lindsay Lohan.
I picked this up in a charity shop, otherwise I’d be annoyed about having wasted my money.
I picked this up in a charity shop, otherwise I’d be annoyed about having wasted my money.
March 18, 2020
Although I think James Franco's poetry isn't the best, I definitely believe that this book deserved better. Some poems were better than others but I think they were pretty interesting in general. Definitely I think that here we have a different James from the immature one we could find in earlier works.
My favorites poems were: "Acting Tips", "When my father died", "Nocturnal", and "Directing Herbert White".
My favorites poems were: "Acting Tips", "When my father died", "Nocturnal", and "Directing Herbert White".
May 10, 2021
The best poem I found I this poetry book was Fake since as James Franco the poetry was fake and so was his personal we know. It mainly is him talking about sleeping with Lindsey lohan and others who died in his life. As I appreciate his honesty there was nothing truly poetry-based or of honest meaning in his writing mainly thoughts of his about others and himself.
November 4, 2017
It seems a lot of people didn't enjoy this book of poems, describing it as entitled, or immature on Franco's part, but I was really overwhelmed with the honesty. It felt real, and I respect that about Franco's writing.
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