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Kidnap Notes Next
30 pages, chapbook
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
John Wieners
69 books16 followersJohn Joseph Wieners (January 6, 1934 – March 1, 2002) was an American poet.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 23, 2017
I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. I couldn't quite make heads or tails of this one.
Having read Wieners' first two books, The Hotel Wentley Poems and Ace of Pentacles, I was expecting something of fairly high standard and something fairly logical and coherent.
Instead, what we have here are fragment of ideas and journal entries mixed in with poems-in-progress or poems which seem almost like journal entries themselves.
There are some great moments such as the following excerpt....
How I loved living away from home not knowing Mr. Lepke. On Gough Street, painting the floor. It was a store front and walking out-doors in another genuine neighbourhood. It was so much like home.
On Kearney Street unlike my first abode I slept in the store front window and could at night hear footsteps of the Chinese women in the rain and their sale-men. I never pretended they knew I was there. Much like in Greenwich Village; going up the stairs with umbrellas and briefcases.
However, for me personally, the number of head-scratching moments outweighed the number of times I was clear about what Wieners was driving at.
Possibly worth checking out but seek out his more famous works if you are new to John Wieners. He really was one-of-a-kind.
Having read Wieners' first two books, The Hotel Wentley Poems and Ace of Pentacles, I was expecting something of fairly high standard and something fairly logical and coherent.
Instead, what we have here are fragment of ideas and journal entries mixed in with poems-in-progress or poems which seem almost like journal entries themselves.
There are some great moments such as the following excerpt....
How I loved living away from home not knowing Mr. Lepke. On Gough Street, painting the floor. It was a store front and walking out-doors in another genuine neighbourhood. It was so much like home.
On Kearney Street unlike my first abode I slept in the store front window and could at night hear footsteps of the Chinese women in the rain and their sale-men. I never pretended they knew I was there. Much like in Greenwich Village; going up the stairs with umbrellas and briefcases.
However, for me personally, the number of head-scratching moments outweighed the number of times I was clear about what Wieners was driving at.
Possibly worth checking out but seek out his more famous works if you are new to John Wieners. He really was one-of-a-kind.
Displaying 1 of 1 review