Where You Want To Be: New and Selected Poems

by Kevin Pilkington

Poetry. "This is a poet unafraid of being understood, who will not hide behind decorativeness or the oblique. Read these poems aloud and you will hear an authentic and quintessentially American voice not only writing but also speaking to you."—Thomas Lux

"I take guilty pleasure in the poems of Kevin Pilkington, and consider him an essential voice in contemporary poetry."—Jay Parini

"In this rich collection of tender poems, he celebrates the small consolations of daily life that offer spiritual relief in the face of disappointment and loss. There are no easy epiphanies here-just one poet working as hard as he can to get through daily life with dignity and grace."—Jim Daniels

Genres: Poetry

222 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2015

About the author

Kevin Pilkington is a member of the writing faculty at Sarah Lawrence College. He is the author of ten collections: Spare Change was the La Jolla Poets Press National Book Award winner; Getting By won the Ledge chapbook award; In the Eyes of a Dog received the New York Book Festival Award; The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree was a Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award finalist. His poetry has appeared in many anthologies including: Birthday Poems: A Celebration, Western Wind, and Contemporary Poetry of New England. Over the years, he has been nominated for four Pushcarts. His poems have appeared in numerous magazines including: The Harvard Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, Iowa Review, Boston Review, Yankee, Hayden’s Ferry, Columbia, North American Review, etc. He has taught and lectured at numerous colleges and universities including The New School, Manhattanville College, MIT, University of Michigan, Susquehanna University, Georgia Tech. His debut novel Summer Shares was published in 2012 and a paperback edition was reissued in summer 2014. His collection Where You Want To Be: New and Selected Poems was a 2017 IPPY Award Winner. A new collection entitled Playing Poker With Tennessee Williams was recently published by Black Lawrence Press. His second novel entitled Taking On Secrets was published in September 2022.

Reviews

[Alarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pilkington writes about the everyday scenes and events we can all relate to: walking around the neighborhood, having a cup of coffee, listening to music. In other words, he must never suffer from writer’s block. Instead of worrying about what is sufficiently interesting to be a poem, he launches into what feels like a conversation with us, “I’d been out of work for a month/and knew it was time to get going/on my job search.” Don’t worry. He won’t make you yawn. It isn’t what he writes about, but how he writes that keeps us wanting more. He looks at ordinary and sees extraordinary. Because this volume includes excerpts from earlier collections, we get to watch a good poet getting even better over time.

Some of his favorite techniques to surprise expectations are to play with scale or with the laws of logic, physics, or normal experience – or to blend all those devices into one big WHAT?!?! His metaphors and similes pack a punch. Here are some of my favorite examples from this collection.

about a white puppy with black patches:

“There’s one that’s shaped
like Rhode Island, a small state
that isn’t too heavy for a three
month old puppy to carry
around on his back.”
(“Dogs”)

At a coffee shop, he looks down and sees the top of an apartment building across the street floating in his cup:

“…The rent floating with it
tastes rather bitter, so I just add
more sugar.”
(“Looking in the Mirror”)

The next time I have an earworm, I’ll remember this:

“There is a song I heard on the radio this morning
I can’t stand that is stuck in my head.
I make sure to keep my mouth shut in case someone
walks too close…”
(“It’s Early”)

Who else would say that most of the buildings uptown (NYC) “resemble Cole Porter” or that a cruise ship is “moving as slow as a Russian novel”? Yes, there is a quirky tone to Pilkington’s poetry, but he still gets to a serious core of what we feel. He’s brave enough to be vulnerable, to grieve, to expose his hurts, and to be unapologetically tender. His humor doesn’t hide the truth, just applies a little balm to ease the pain.

In “My Father’s Hands,” he remembers his Irish father’s hands on his shoulders as he showed him a map of Ireland. He is confused years later at the funeral home:

“I looked into the open casket
and knew there must
have been a mistake.
It wasn’t him.

This man’s mouth drooped
the way my father’s never had
and he was pale, almost white.
My father, who worked outside
for years, was the color
of weather. Just before I leaned
over to tell my mother…
I noticed his hands.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure
if they belonged to my father
until I looked closer
and saw Dublin on his thumb…
All I could do
was kneel down next
to my mother, close my eyes
and listen to her cry.”

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like Greatest Hits Records, I usually find selected or collected works of poetry too daunting, preferring small volumes. but Kevin Pilkington's "Where You Want to Be" is different. Having read all his previous volumes I already know that I'll be reading a poet who writes from the gut and the heart. Whether it's poems about his father like "Magis," or "My Father's Hands," or poems about a bar on 2nd Avenue, a love poem, or Mel Torme's voice, each one is alive, turning ordinary ever day experiences into something magical. Take for example "The Unemployed Man Who Became a Tree," "The Way to Heaven," "Where You Want to Be," Apple Spider," "Healthcare," or "Therapy," take any number of poems for that matter, in this fantastic collection and you are in for a delightful surprise. One moment you will laugh out loud, turn the page and feel your heart breaking. Pilkington is an urban poet with the heart and sparsity of the Midwest. All these poems are love stories in one way or another, as he writes in a poem from In The Eyes of a Dog:

You got down on your knees and licked
all the words you would never use onto
her legs, a type of love story only you
would ever want to read again.

But these are stories you will want to read again and again, stories you may find a piece of yourself in. Little islands of magic that float to the surface and shine. In truth Pilkington is a seeker, sifting through the dark, unexpected places for that sens of meaning we're all looking for, that will make sense of and give our lives meaning.

[Davita · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite poetic voices: real, raw, warm and conversational. "Poet Trees", about a conversation with his niece, is one of my all time favorites.