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Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides
With his signature wit and insight, award-winning poet Stephen Dobyns probes the secrets of the heart
Consider the mysteries of the heart, that blood-pumping organ and, in Stephen Dobyns' latest collection of poems, the hapless romantic of our interior landscape. "The Himalayas Within Him" finds Heart worrying about the sound of his own heartbeat, wondering why it doesn't "blare like a quartet of trombones" as it reflects his "ardent complexity." In "Goodbye to the Hands That Have Touched Him" Heart, after suffering many sleepless nights, decides "that love exists at the root of his problems. Without love his path would be as smooth as a plate of glass and he'd sleep like a kitten." Dividing the Heart poems is the long "Oh, Immobility, Death's Vast Associate," a jazzy disquisition on human isolation and inaction in the midst of a planet full of people feeling similarly. Throughout Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides Dobyns has painstakingly sculpted straightforward language into a distinct sound, creating an unforgettable collection of poems that offers readers unexpected revelations about the complexities of the heart.
. . . Why is Heart alone in the chest?
Because hope is an aspect of the single condition
and without hope, why move our feet? To see himself
as purely a such is Heart's obligation.
Let's quickly depart before we learn what happens.
Sometimes a car stops. Sometimes there is nothing.
--from "Like a Revolving Door"
Consider the mysteries of the heart, that blood-pumping organ and, in Stephen Dobyns' latest collection of poems, the hapless romantic of our interior landscape. "The Himalayas Within Him" finds Heart worrying about the sound of his own heartbeat, wondering why it doesn't "blare like a quartet of trombones" as it reflects his "ardent complexity." In "Goodbye to the Hands That Have Touched Him" Heart, after suffering many sleepless nights, decides "that love exists at the root of his problems. Without love his path would be as smooth as a plate of glass and he'd sleep like a kitten." Dividing the Heart poems is the long "Oh, Immobility, Death's Vast Associate," a jazzy disquisition on human isolation and inaction in the midst of a planet full of people feeling similarly. Throughout Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides Dobyns has painstakingly sculpted straightforward language into a distinct sound, creating an unforgettable collection of poems that offers readers unexpected revelations about the complexities of the heart.
. . . Why is Heart alone in the chest?
Because hope is an aspect of the single condition
and without hope, why move our feet? To see himself
as purely a such is Heart's obligation.
Let's quickly depart before we learn what happens.
Sometimes a car stops. Sometimes there is nothing.
--from "Like a Revolving Door"
- GenresPoetry
160 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1999
About the author
Stephen Dobyns
84 books210 followersDobyns was raised in New Jersey, Michigan, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He was educated at Shimer College, graduated from Wayne State University, and received an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1967. He has worked as a reporter for the Detroit News.
He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University.
In much of his poetry and some works of non-genre fiction, Dobyns employs extended tropes, using the ridiculous and the absurd as vehicles to introduce more profound meditations on life, love, and art. He shies neither from the low nor from the sublime, and all in a straightforward narrative voice of reason. His journalistic training has strongly informed this voice.
He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University.
In much of his poetry and some works of non-genre fiction, Dobyns employs extended tropes, using the ridiculous and the absurd as vehicles to introduce more profound meditations on life, love, and art. He shies neither from the low nor from the sublime, and all in a straightforward narrative voice of reason. His journalistic training has strongly informed this voice.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 21, 2020
Hard to pick a moment when Heart seems more beguiling than another. When considering love? Or boredom? Humility? I love his futility. I love it when he's chained in the basement reading smut, attached to wires that work the radiators that give rise to the codgers' complaints. !
This stuff is DARK and Lusty! And brainy.
And then you notice the rhyme. DayUM.
This stuff is DARK and Lusty! And brainy.
And then you notice the rhyme. DayUM.
March 30, 2009
Stephen Dobyns, Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides (Penguin, 1999)
What a great name for a book. Ain't it? It's what drew me to Dobyns' tenth book of poetry. Once I cracked the cover, his long-limbed, loose-jointed style kept me going:
“Heart considers the nature of fairness—
how some folks get pearls, others pebbles.
A rock falls out of the sky, who it smacks
is anyone's guess—butcher, crook, or priest.
Heart is struck by the unfairness of fairness.
What does it mean to deserve something?”
(“Great Job”)
The book is separated into three sections. The first and third are the Heart poems, a series of pieces (all in this style, with no stanza breaks, each running about a page and a half) about a character called Heart and his views on life. The middle section, “Oh Immobility, Death's Vast Associate”, is one much longer piece in the same style. It doesn't hold up quite as well, for as you can tell from the excerpt above, these poems do almost as much telling as showing, and the longer the piece gets, the greater the chance it will become overwhelmed with its own exposition. The shorter poems, however, often strike the perfect balance. There is a good deal of fun to be had here, and, especially as Heart grows older in the later poems, a good deal of wisdom as well. Fun stuff, this. *** ½
What a great name for a book. Ain't it? It's what drew me to Dobyns' tenth book of poetry. Once I cracked the cover, his long-limbed, loose-jointed style kept me going:
“Heart considers the nature of fairness—
how some folks get pearls, others pebbles.
A rock falls out of the sky, who it smacks
is anyone's guess—butcher, crook, or priest.
Heart is struck by the unfairness of fairness.
What does it mean to deserve something?”
(“Great Job”)
The book is separated into three sections. The first and third are the Heart poems, a series of pieces (all in this style, with no stanza breaks, each running about a page and a half) about a character called Heart and his views on life. The middle section, “Oh Immobility, Death's Vast Associate”, is one much longer piece in the same style. It doesn't hold up quite as well, for as you can tell from the excerpt above, these poems do almost as much telling as showing, and the longer the piece gets, the greater the chance it will become overwhelmed with its own exposition. The shorter poems, however, often strike the perfect balance. There is a good deal of fun to be had here, and, especially as Heart grows older in the later poems, a good deal of wisdom as well. Fun stuff, this. *** ½
July 28, 2008
This is a book that's after something. Every poem (except for the long one at the center of the book) has Heart as its main character, a Heart that's always searching for something -- wisdom, a new identity, companionship, reassurance, diversion -- and the search, which is of course also somewhat the search of the author as well, is itself inspiring. Heart learns various things in these plain-speaking poems, though not generally in a lasting way, and the real point, in the end, is the search. This is a book that advocates against immobility, that tries to propel us into searching, just for the sake of the motion -- motion that is, ultimately, life.
August 28, 2007
I love Stephen Dobyns! This series of poems is from the perspective of a character called "Heart"---sometimes the literal organ ("He's tired of being a heart/and wants to be a lung. A lung never lacks/a sister or brother."), at others a man ("Heart lies on a board with his hands crossed/on his chest. He is neither resting, nor sick./He's working very hard.") The humor is deliciously dark and but it's balanced by Heart's almost sweet insights into the human condition.
August 29, 2011
I loved this, but some sections more than others. The poems had a depth and thoughtfulness disguised as a littery of words that I found provocative and always a little bit out of reach. It was the suggestion of a collective feeling and humanity and thought that is not often put into words.
I found several of the poems in the Heart I section compelling, but thematically, I found the Immobility section closest to my own heart.
I found several of the poems in the Heart I section compelling, but thematically, I found the Immobility section closest to my own heart.
April 6, 2008
Dobyns is a contemporary master of free-verse narrative poetry. In this collection, he focuses on the characters of "Heart" and "Death." Sure, that can come off as a little pompous, but like a lot of his other works, he chooses to focus on strong imagery, precise language, and making "Heart" and "Death" as close to real people as he can.
February 24, 2010
I liked this, but not as much as I like Dobyn's selected poems. As much as I can appreciate the Heart conceit, it felt long near the end, and a bit repetitive. Still, I love his highly controlled style--so much internal rhyme within each line!--and dug the book considerably.
October 18, 2007
Strange and troubling sometimes, but all rings true.
July 7, 2009
I liked the expansive scope of this book, and the consistency of voice.
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October 22, 2013Enjoyed these bittersweet, wry reflections on aging
June 30, 2009
Stephen Dobyns once again proves that he is the greatest living modern poet. Period.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews