Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows: Poems

by Rod McKuen

Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows is divided into five segments and an autobiographical poem. Included are Stanyan Street, Kearney Street, The Yellow Unicorn, and a selection of lyrics from songs and poems written as early as 1954.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction

85 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Rod McKuen (born April 29, 1933) was a bestselling American poet, composer, and singer, instrumental in the revitalization of popular poetry that took place in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Born Rodney Marvin McKuen in Oakland, California, McKuen ran away from home at the age of eleven to escape an alcoholic stepfather and to send what money he could to his mother. After a series of jobs, from logger, ranch hand, railroad worker to rodeo cowboy, throughout the west, McKuen began in the 1950s to excite audiences with his poetry readings, appearing with such well-known poets as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg; during this time, he often used the pseudonym "Dor".

McKuen moved to New York City in 1959 to compose and conduct for the TV show The CBS Workshop. By the 1960s he had achieved fame, far surpassing in sales the works of the Beat poets who preceded him. During the early 1960s he spent most of his time in France. This began his project to translate the work of legendary singer/songwriter Jacques Brel, into English. After Brel died he said, "As friends and as musical collaborators we had traveled, toured and written - together and apart - the events of our lives as if they were songs, and I guess they were. When news of Jacques’ death came I stayed locked in my bedroom and drank for a week. That kind of self pity was something he wouldn’t have approved of, but all I could do was replay our songs (our children) and ruminate over our unfinished life together."[1]

He became an icon across college campuses for his ability to capture in verse the feelings of anxiety, love, confusion, and hope that were common during the Vietnam era. His public readings had the drawing power of a rock concert.

McKuen's commercial success is unparalleled in the field of modern poetry. His poetic works have been translated into a dozen languages and sold over 65 million copies. Throughout his career he has continued to enjoy sell-out concerts around the world and appears regularly at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall.

Edward Habib's liner notes for McKuen's Amsterdam Concert album make the often-repeated claim that Rod McKuen is the best-selling and most widely read poet of all time. This claim is probably rooted in the fact that McKuen's works -- unlike those of Shakespeare or Dante Alighieri -- are copyrighted, and his total sales can be more readily quantified.

As a songwriter, he contributed to the sale of over 100 million records. His material has been recorded by such artists as Frank Sinatra (who in 1969 recorded A Man Alone, an album of McKuen's songs), Johnny Cash who (just before his death) recorded McKuen's "Love's Been Good To Me", Waylon Jennings, The London Philharmonic, Greta Keller, Perry Como, and Madonna. Perhaps his most well-known song is "Jean", recorded by Oliver in 1969 for the soundtrack to the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. In 1959, McKuen released a novelty single on the Brunswick label called "The Mummy". Bob Mcfadden and Dor was listed as the artist.. In 1961, he had a hit single titled "Oliver Twist".. McKuen has proven to be a prolific songwriter, penning over 1500 songs. He collaborated with a variety of internationally renowned composers, including Henry Mancini and John Williams, and a highly successful series of albums with Anita Kerr. His symphonies, concertos, and other classical works have been performed by orchestras around the globe. His work as a composer in the film industry has garnered him two Academy Award nominations.

Throughout his multi-award-winning career, McKuen paired his artistic endeavors with a spirit for social reform. Before a tour of South Africa in the 1970s, McKuen demanded “mixed seating” among white and black concert-goers, opening the doors for successful tours by a variety of African-American performers, including Sammy Davis, Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald. He also spearheaded efforts to raise AIDS awareness and fund charities for children and senior

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remembered
words are only necessary after love has gone.

I got this book from the library. Someone who had it out before me found it very inspiring.


McKuen reading one of the poems:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=233rT...

Singing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE65f...

He has a poem in here that mentions him performing at the Hungry I, a San Francisco icon.



*****

Not now -- I've been too homesick for San Francisco lately. But someday.

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume evokes warm memories. I first discovered it while on an epic hitchhiking trip sometime in my early 20s; an age that is particularly vulnerable to McKuen's peculiar talent. Not long after that I was reading it by candlelight to seduce a charming young British lady. While McKuen is no Byron, memories like that are worth four stars at a minimum.

But that’s just my personal associations. A recent reread of this slim volume reminded me that there are some excellent poems in it. Rod McKuen usually gets no respect in serious poetry circles. This has more to do with his association with the Flower Children generation (fashionable, now, to despise and discredit) than it does with his poems. It’s an easy thing to show your sophisticated bona fides by curling your lip at McKuen as crass and untalented. But I challenge you to read Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows with fresh eyes, forgetting what you are supposed to believe about McKuen and his poetry. There are some seriously good poems here. There was a reason, beyond my dulcet reading voice, why I successfully used this book in my seduction.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I might have been a better friend if I hadn't trusted time."

"Especially the poetic few who say so much for all of us with knotted tongues."

"I even love your enemies because they drive you to my arms for comfort."

Beautiful book of poems that looks at the flow of everyday life.

[Jerome Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of poetry launched Rod McKuen into the public eye as a poet with sensitive voice. Labeled as the lonely poet Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows is no exception. Coming from an underdog's point of view McKuen's poetry is concise, tender, and straight to the heart of the matter. His words flow, roll, and at times scratch for the longing us human beings strive for: to love and be love. I like the concept of streets, places, and people alive with construction crews, encounters in the park, the smells of coffee on a sleepy chilly morn, and cigarettes in a dark room. If you like to dream and explain love of life with romantic philosophies read this book and read it often; especially when it is raining and you are alone.

Holidays

Holidays were meant for lonely people . . .

Love is a season and holidays like signposts mark the time.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the poems in this book have to do with lost love. When it was first published, it was an immediate sensation, and one of the books seen on college campuses everywhere. Even though I have not read these poems in many years, I remember this book fondly.

[lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

i got this book at a used bookstore with my friend. we spent so long in there just taking in the bliss of the books. i ended up leaving with this one and a few others. i read this one alongside them for a bit and also on the bus ride home. i couldn’t put it down once i got home. i have fond memories attached to this book now

i loved how warm and loving this book was. i appreciate this kind of poetry- the type that is incredibly observant and filled with retrospect. i love when people pay attention to small details and write about them so beautifully. i love the way the author writes for different people, animals, and streets. the writing was comforting and familiar and i will definitely come back to it. <3

since this book is second hand and very obviously read i’m really curious about who read this before me. i hope they’re cool

[Don Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read how critics snubbed Rod McKuen's poetry, I dismissed them as snobs. Which was probably fair; but it's also fair to observe that the poems in this collection are not very deep or interesting. The only noteworthy feature of the collection is the very strong and consistent melancholy mood and theme of sorrow. But the poems are extremely thin; uncomplicated in structure and thought, and not challenging. They're poems that I, lacking poetic talent, could have written. Or some twenty-year-old wanna-be poets at a coffee shop poetry slam. ("And then, my friend, YOU DIED, MAN!")

The only exception in the entire book, out of about eighty poems, is one called "The Summertime of Days," whose last verse is:

In the summertime of days
I'll ask for nothing more
than a face and a quiet place
that was cast aside by God.

Except for that poem, the collection makes the 1960s audience that loved McKuen look shallow. My ability to appreciate poetry is probably more limited than I would like; but I still read poetry deeper and more challenging than this stuff.

Not recommended.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first started reading poetry back in my pre-teen years, my mother handed me down some of her old college reads and this was my favorite. I cannot explain what it strikes in me but I could always pick it up and read a few poems.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love is worth the time
it takes to find
Think of that
when all the world
Seems made of walk up rooms
and hands in empty pockets

[Karen Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always liked the poems of Rod McKuen ever since my days in college, over 40 years ago. His poetry speaks to the loss and desires of ordinary people. Literary critics often maligned his work, but he was very popular with the masses.

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such memories of my teen angst. I remember reading this book -- over and over and over -- and feeling like someone understood the sad journey into lost love. I was probably 14 (:->)

His poetry though still stands for it's melancholia. I bet teenagers today would read these poems and love them.

[C.J. Heck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book back in 1971 and I still have it. I was working as a flight attendant for TWA at the time and I spotted it in an airline terminal book shop.

It was my first introduction to the writings of modern poets and I fell in love with the way he put things. It's still a favorite.

[Darlene Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

so san francisco

[Ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Sometimes I think people were meant to be strangers" ~Channing Way, I
Apparently, Rod McKuen was one of those artists who at the time of his success had the misfortune of being mainstream, because we all know how anything mainstream is spoken of. Though if the reviews here, over 50 years on, mean anything, he's remembered more fondly now.

I had never heard of this fellow, so I read the collection without the baggage of knowing what anyone else thought of his work at the time he was popular; just found this at a thrift store and liked the cut of its jib.

Many of the poems in this collection appear to have been written when the poet was in his mid 20s to early 30s, and is largely about the ennui that coming out of your 20s brings with it. Especially when reflecting on love and how all-consuming it feels during that period, and how devastating it is to lose it.

Like a lot of poetry, his style sometimes worked for me, sometimes didn't. The straightforward simplicity of it was described by one GR reviewer as being the precursor to 'Instagram poetry' -- itself looked upon with derision by many for its hallmark straightforwardness that not everyone would even consider to be 'true' poetry.

Ariel Bissett did an interesting deep dive into Instagram poetry in which she explores how far from 'ruining' poetry, the accessibility of it that leads to its wider appeal actually makes it more relevant.

McKuen's poetry, at least in this collection, definitely fits into that conversation of 'what is poetry'? though it would be hard, I reckon, to deny the poetic lens he viewed the world with given some of the choice lines he came up with. He also had a crazy amount of success crossing his poetry over into music and he not only got to work with artists like Johnny Cash, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand, but in 1968 he won a Grammy for 'Best Spoken Word' album. And all that in addition to his work writing music for film. Across his career, he estimated he wrote a total of over 2,000 songs and 70 books, selling over 1 million copies in 1968 alone. So whatever else anyone might think, he was certainly industrious.

He was also an LGBT rights activist, starting in the 1950s and culminating in more prominent activism in the 70s once he had a bigger platform. In particular, he famously protested against Anita Bryant, then Florida Citrus spokesperson and face of the 'Save the Children' campaign, a movement that leaves an impact even today. At the time she was quoted as saying: "Homosexuals cannot reproduce—so they must recruit, and to freshen their ranks, they must recruit the youth of America." In response, he released the protest song 'Don't Drink the Orange Juice'.

Despite this, and a long history of doing charity concerts during the AIDS crisis, McKuen never seems to have identified with any label himself, saying in a 2004 interview with the Associated Press :

I am sexual by nature and I continue to fall in love with people and with any luck human beings of both sexes will now and again be drawn to me. I can’t imagine choosing one sex over the other, that’s just too limiting. I can’t even honestly say I have a preference. I’m attracted to different people for different reasons.

I do identify with the Gay Rights struggle, to me that battle is about nothing more or less than human rights. I marched in the 50’s and 60’s to protest the treatment of Blacks in this country and I’m proud of the fact that I broke the color barrier in South Africa by being the first artist to successfully demand integrated seating at my concerts. I am a die-hard feminist and will continue to speak out for women’s rights as long as they are threatened. These, of course, are all social issues and have nothing to do with my sex life (although admittedly I’ve met some pretty hot people of both sexes on the picket line.)

Given such an extraordinary career, maybe one would expect his actual work to be extraordinary too. I wouldn't go that far, but then, nothing suggests that he meant it to be, seemingly more concerned with capturing something ubiquitous of the human experience and human emotion. And he must have, because I'm a 20-something reading his poetry in 2023 and I can see myself in some of it.

I used to be afraid to look completely real
the sun was just my friend sometimes
when brown from sea and sky made things all right -
always afraid to be anything but young
and envying beauty
even on the face of strangers

Is this what growing up means
the reality of lighting over public mirrors?
Or is my confidence in love so great
that I worry not
to let you see me at my worst? ~Camera

[Jonathan Cavazos · Rating 4 out of 5]

My awesome coworker, Jackie, recommended this poet. I enjoyed this book.

[Luvjunqi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first time I ever picked up anything from Rod McKuen, was in my adolescence. I found this very issue of this collection among a pile of riff-raff at the local Catholic thrift shop. I bought it, skimmed it and didn't put it down that year. I read and re-read some of the poems like an insatiable addiction. The way he writes about feelings of alienation, loneliness, awkwardness and love were a reflection of my psyche at the time. And the fact that I had just gotten back from a trip to San Francisco made the titles and sight and sounds of the poetry more authentic.

[Ava Salina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very lovely collection of poetry from the 50's and 60's
This is Mckuen's first book, and by far, my very favorite.
I bought this book for the poem " The Summertime of Days."

'In the Summertime of days
I'll ask for nothing more
than a face and a quiet place
that was cast aside by God'

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gift from my husband. It has been a treasure. We also have the music from The Sea.

[Eva · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a book of poems by a known songwriter. I haven't read much poetry but I am looking for new genres. I found this easy to read, some poems better than others and most relating to lost love.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was sadder, but no less good. It's very much a look back on other times.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This small volume of poetry was first published in 1966, a time when the world was in the midst of a cultural revolution led by young people ready to throw off the constraints of previous generations with their litany of rules, moral certitude and restrictive sexual behavior, to grab a life that was “more authentic”.

The movement attracted a number of singers, songwriters and poets who transformed into words into what so many of them felt during this time of rapid social upheaval. The American songwriter and poet Rod McKuen was one of them. He gained massive popularity during this time, eventually emerging as one of the best-selling poets of the sixties, with sales of over six million books of poetry which were translated into several different languages.

His work was never taken seriously by academics who dismissed his work as “kitsch” describing it as “superficial” and “schmaltzy”. But masses of young people loved it, with its focus on things they felt were important to them: romance, relationships and the nature and mysteries of the human condition. Listeners felt touched by his poetry which was often tinged with a touch of sadness. They felt McKuen understood them and their feelings.

McKuen always attracted a wide audience to his simple concerts when he recited his poetry while sitting alone on a stool in a spotlight. Tickets were always hard to get and always sold out quickly. A product of the pop culture of the time, he was adored by thousands.

You either liked him or you didn’t, but he made millions from his work.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for the Popsugar challenge: "A book that was a best seller the year you graduated from highschool." That was 1967 and my friend Marianne gave this book to me for my birthday that year. The poems are almost all love letters. I thought they were to one woman, his true love. Now I'm fairly certain that Rod had a slew of lovers. When I thought about these poems later, I thought they were sappy, trite, utterly saccharine. They actually aren't...at least not all. They are love poems, all fairly short, but some of them use interesting language or verbal surprises. I think they are somewhat like the music I liked at the time although not nearly as inventive as The Beatles or The Stones. I'm glad I was introduced to Adrienne Rich and W.S. Merwin and Czeslaw Milosz and Gwendolyn Brooks, Stephen Dunn and Eleanor Wilner. When I was seventeen, I was introduced to poets who were already dead. McKuen was young and contemporary and he wrote about love, something I was hungry for, and ashamed to admit that I was. He seemed quite comfortable to admitting he had loved and lost.

[Phillip Block · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rod McKuen has been an influence in my life since the late '60s and early '70s. I first embraced his music, and later his poetry. I recently re-connected with Rod by reading his biography, A Voice of the Warm: The Life of Rod McKuen.

This was Rod's first published book of poetry, which raised awareness of him and helped to launch his career. It was released while he was struggling for acceptance in the face of dismissal by the elites who felt that it was their privilege and prerogative to dictate what would and would not be acceptable contributions to the culture of the day. Unfortunately for them, legions of Baby Boomers embraced Rod McKuen and quickly elevated him to fame and fortune. He was loved by millions of then-young people at that time. I was one of them, and remain one today, still finding comfort and meaning in his music and messages.

[David Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece of modern poetry, Rod McKuen accomplishes in his greatest collection what most poets can only hope to. The pages of Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows flow like your 20s, with the comings and goings of many faces and feelings that have you reckoning with what bits and pieces they've left behind. Highly emotional but never outright vague, McKuen walks the line between the folk traditions of yore and the modern feel-writing that so many poets use as an excuse to vomit words onto paper. At times, McKuen's own work here appears to fall into that category, only to snap you back into reality with a final line or couplet, convincing you that you were foolish to ever think it was anything short of wonderfully constructed.

In short, the mysterious and prolific master of American poetry has many of his finest pieces collected in this volume. If a reader is interested in what poems should be, they need look no further.

[John Riselvato · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually seem to prefer Rod McKuen say his own poems than read them. There's something so soothing about this voice. If you're a fan, you'll actually notice a lot of the Poems in this are from his "Desire" and "Beatnikville" albums. Both albums are poetry records, I highly recommend you checking it out.

I bought this on my trip to Australia last year. I was deadly sick, but still managed to find a bookstore, grab this book and sleep for the entire vacation. So owning the book from my favorite poet plus the Australian winter experience has a lot of meaning to me.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, not holding up as an adult.

This is interesting, though. When I was reading Listen to the Warm, I thought I was picking up on some gay subtext to some of the poems but dismissed it as most of the poems are about relationships with women. When I started picking up on gay subtext in this collection, I did a little research and turns out McKuen had relationships with men and women and was an LGBT activist.

He also won a Grammy, was nominated for a Pulitzer, and was nominated for two Oscars for movie scores.

[Emily Troutman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I give my opinion on his collection, I have to say that I'm not the biggest fan of poetry as a genre. I probably appreciate it more than the average person, but I certainly do not go out of my way to read it. I find that most poets feel the need to play up an aesthetic doused in melancholy, angsty, and futile relationships. Mr. McKuen followed that trend. What may come across as sensitive and introspective to some just seems very "woe-is-me" and despondent to me.

[Scott DuJardin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes I have read and enjoyed more challenging poetry. Yes, this tends to be a non-layered statement of love lost and other melancholies. Yes to many of the 'negatives' of other reviews.

But this still makes me feel in ways I would not have felt if I had not read it (again). Sometimes I just need a reminder - even if a simple one - of other ways I have felt.

I very much enjoy having this book in my library of poetry - right next to my James Kavanaugh.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of poetry reminded me of why I read. When I was a teenager, I found this book in my hometown’s used book store. I loved it then, and I love it now. The experience of reading words that were written 60 years ago but still resonate today is so powerful. Rod McKuen speaks on love, loss, loneliness, self expression, and much more in a profound way.