The Kitchen Sink: New and Selected Poems, 1972-2007

by Albert Goldbarth

“Albert Goldbarth is . . . a contemporary genius with the language itself . . . There is simply no contemporary poet like him.” —David Baker, The Kenyon Review

Albert Goldbarth has created an unmistakable signature style—learned, copious, hilarious, and heartbreaking—which has so far spanned an award-winning career of thirty-five years. The Kitchen Sink brings together forty new poems with a rich selection of earlier poetry, ranging from the brief, flickering lyric to the long, narrative sequence. In both forms, Goldbarth exerts a wild showmanship and an ever-widening scope to illustrate the complex character and interconnectedness of humanity, history, and art. The Kitchen Sink is the definitive book by one of America’s most original and entertaining poets.

Genres: Poetry

370 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Albert Goldbarth is an American poet born January 31, 1948 in Chicago. He is known for his prolific production, his gregarious tone, his eclectic interests and his distinctive 'talky' style. He has been a Guggenheim fellow and won the National Book Critics Circle award in 1991 and 2001, the only poet to receive the honor two times. He also won the Mark Twain Award for Humorous Poetry, awarded by the Poetry Foundation, in 2008.

Goldbarth received his BA from the University of Illinois in 1969 and his MFA from the University of Iowa in 1971. He is currently distinguished professor of Humanities at Wichita State University, and he teaches in the Low-Residency MFA program in Creative Writing at Converse College.

Reviews

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lifetime of work represented by The Kitchen Sink is impressive. Goldbarth's adept in many styles. He can provoke thought with the short lightning stab of word and image. But his longer poems become engaging stories working not by elegance or grace alone but often by the unexpected, and in long narratives in which the words race pellmell down the page in a swelling stampede. I like him best that way. His poems are spun-out situations that look at 2 or more effects at once to form beautiful moments. In "Across Town" a man leaving his lover lifts his fingers to his nose to remember her while in a synagogue men lift the fringe of the Torah to their lips "like bits of bread soaked through with the Glory." Sometimes his poems are like conundrums of physics in that it's difficult to determine which is subordinate, the language or the thought. Indeed, one of his great themes is the cosmos. Many poems steer the reader into recognizing his place--usually emphasizing the insignificance--in that greater nature. It's no wonder the cover is a picture of a giant finger stirring the eye of a hurricane. My favorite poem here is about the nature of light speeding across vast distances at the famous 186,000 miles per second to touch his lover. It's not all profundity, though. Goldbarth is a very funny writer and often finds a way to laugh at the world he sees. I liked this sparkling side of him as well. Finishing the book, reading the biographical sketch he'd written, I laughted out loud when, at the end of his literary accomplishments, he said he could have gone to medical school. It's our good luck that he didn't, so that 35 years later he could give us a book incorporating all his good work, including the kitchen sink. That familiar phrase, by the way, in Goldbarth's quirky universe, reflects the modern dance of Martha Graham in a drop of water poised at the end of a faucet. En point, he says. Beautiful.

[Pewterbreath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glorious! Goldbarth has this encyclopedic eye that makes a whole universe of common events and things. Sometimes it gets a bit exhausting--he includes so much detail, it can dazzle the mind beyond the point of being able to take more in. But for all that, well worth it.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I majored in English literature, I'm more of a novel/short story enthusiast than a reader of poetry. Generally, the major poets I read in college (Spenser, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Tennyson) put me to sleep. Sacrilege, I know; there were a few I really liked (Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," William Blake, Milton's "Paradise Lost," Christina Rossetti) but these were poets (or poems, anyway) who told stories. I also liked some of the older poems ("Beowulf," "Dream of the Rood," "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"), but more for their historical significance than as works of poetry.

Since graduating, I've tried other, more contemporary poets (Elizabeth Bishop, Sharon Olds, John Ashbery) with some success, but none of them lit my brain on fire. Until I discovered Albert Goldbarth.

I think what I find so enchanting about Goldbarth's poetry is that it doesn't read like poetry. It's philosophy, autobiography, sociology, history, the study of science (particularly physics), and a reflection on the popular culture of the twentieth century, all written with an informality and a gentle sense of humor that makes me want to both ponder the poem I've just read, and move on, eagerly, to reading the next one. I suppose one could argue that all good poetry is supposed to be at least one of these things, but before I read this book I don't think I'd given poetry enough thought to realize it. So I have Albert Goldbarth to thank for that. I see now that poetry isn't just "poetry," or at least it doesn't have to be. It's a synthesis of human thought. So, thank you, Mr. Goldbarth. You saved poetry for this one lapsed English lit major.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

35 years of selected poems, arranged more by theme than order of composition. As he steers clear (usually) of private imagery and opaque language his work is easier to read and grasp than that of most contemporary poets. That he's also often funny and capable of illuminating juxtapositions (he's very fond of juxtapositions---"Goldbarth's Rule of Confusion (and Unexplainable Beauty): / Any one thing: two things." --"Bundh"). His poems tend to be long, but many here are divided into free verse 14-line, well, sonnets. Much of the last third of the collection is riveted to themes of his parents' dyings and deaths, the death of love in his and other marriages, cancer, and death and dying in general...got kind of heavy and monotonous to me. The last few poems, though returned to lighter ruminations and that sense of wonder that infuses the earlier entries. I recommend his work to anyone who is left cold by the general run of modern poetry. A characteristic example, "Library" is Google-able if you'd like a taste.

Money lines (but there are many more):

"...with / such amulets as hinge the Earth and Heavens into symbiotic grace." "Powers"

"Versus / is the only engine possible under the physical laws of our universe." "!!!The battle of the century!!!"

"A vast green lace of seaweed / over the mantel, and a bagpipes like the hellish genitalia / of some creature from the sea." "Durer"

"sleep, little nubbin / don't you stir / this sky smiled down / on Atlantis and Ur." "Lullabye" (ouch!)

"My friends, I think we've had it wrong: there are maybe a dozen / stories in the world, and they tell us." "Talking with friends"

[Chris]

I found Goldbarth's poem "Library" in a blog and was inspired to read more of his work.
This collection of poems is so good. Goldbarth, at turns, addresses the sacred and mundane, the revered, the profane, the historical, and the intimate. Often, a poem will span all of these. Goldbarth uses this range to make both witty and sober observations on the human condition. This is a collection poems written in a variety of styles, rhymed stanzas, and lengthy freeverse.
Even in the poems that, on first reading, did not speak to me, I found a line or two that spoke eloquently nonetheless.
While not overtly political, these poems were a welcome respite, providing reflection and perspective on the folly and debacle and persistence of the news of this election year. Of course, I welcome such refuge during any news cycle.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could I just say that this is the best book of poetry I've ever read and leave it at that? But really, never has a collection of modern poetry captured my attention and my heart so much. Goldbarth has this aura about him in these pieces that just gives the reader the feeling he/she is reading something incredibly emotional and intellectual.

[Hannah Jane]

I have no idea what I just read. I feel the same way I feel when I'm looking at a Kandinsky painting. Completely befuddled. Like, this may be really good if only I knew what the heck was going on.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Albert Goldbarth's poetry is like reading an encyclopedia of the human struggle. He's prolific. I guarantee you'll learn something from just about every poem you read.

[Jennifer]

I just attended a Keynote Reading at Converse College by Albert Goldbarth. He is the writer-in-residence. I hope to read more of his poetry.

[Fred Kirchner · Rating 5 out of 5]

dude can write a poem. check out the 2nd poem in the book, Library. And also read Roses and Skulls on p. 118. Bought this puppy at City Lights Bookstore in the Poetry Room!

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun read. It also one of the few books that I have read as an adult that challenged my vocabulary.

[Lis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright but too much for extended periods of time some of it was overwhelming some of it was underwhelming and that's alright but maybe it's not for me

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

With his heartfelt, playful, abstract, zany, resolutely unpretentious poetry, Goldbarth is just the guy to recommend to people who think poetry is highbrow, esoteric, and condescending.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well titled. At his best, Goldbarth manages to sweep up the entire culture--high, low, pop, mandarin--into his poems. Sometimes, they're just baggy, but when they work, boy do they work.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not you, it's me. This poetry collection just didn't speak to me.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike Japan, the US doesn't have an official 'Living National Treasure' category, but if it did and I had a determinative vote Albert would be there.