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The Complete Book of Kong
The Complete Book of Kong gathers the poetic wit, woe,and wisdom of both new and favorite Kong poems into a collection that will rattle your cage. This Kong is undiluted and indomitable, ready for anything from power lunches to paparazzi, from Manhattan to Mambo, from Godzilla to God. He is hip and horrendous, always terribly in love with a screaming blonde, and still bearing the biggest, brightest heart Hollywood has ever broken. Kong treads fortissimo where mortals fear to go and holds forth in these poems with the fresh no-nonsense voice that makes Trowbridge one of poetry's most cutting edge bards. Come forth ye canon weary. Behold your inner Kong!
- GenresPoetry
64 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2003
13 people want to read
About the author
William Trowbridge
53 books6 followersWilliam Trowbridge holds a B.A. in Philosophy and an M. A. in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University. In April, 2012, he was appointed to a two-year term as Poet Laureate of Missouri.
His poetry publications include six full collections: Put This On, Please (Red Hen Press, 2014), Ship of Fool (Red Hen Press, 2011), The Complete Book of Kong (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2003), Flickers, O Paradise, and Enter Dark Stranger (University of Arkansas Press, 2000, 1995, 1989). He has also published three chapbooks, The Packing House Cantata (Camber Press, 2006), The Four Seasons (Red Dragonfly Press, 2001), and The Book of Kong (Iowa State University Press, 1986).
His poems have appeared in more than 30 anthologies and textbooks, as well as in such periodicals as Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, Crazyhorse, The Georgia Review, Boulevard, The Southern Review, Columbia, Colorado Review, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Epoch, and New Letters. He has given readings and workshops at schools, colleges, bookstores, and literary conferences throughout the United States. His awards include an Academy of American Poets Prize, a Pushcart Prize, a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference scholarship, a Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award, and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Ragdale, Yaddo, and The Anderson Center.
He is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Northwest Missouri State University, where he was an editor of The Laurel Review/GreenTower Press from 1986 to 2004. Now living in Lee’s Summit, MO, he teaches in the University of Nebraska low-residency MFA in writing program.
His poetry publications include six full collections: Put This On, Please (Red Hen Press, 2014), Ship of Fool (Red Hen Press, 2011), The Complete Book of Kong (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2003), Flickers, O Paradise, and Enter Dark Stranger (University of Arkansas Press, 2000, 1995, 1989). He has also published three chapbooks, The Packing House Cantata (Camber Press, 2006), The Four Seasons (Red Dragonfly Press, 2001), and The Book of Kong (Iowa State University Press, 1986).
His poems have appeared in more than 30 anthologies and textbooks, as well as in such periodicals as Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, Crazyhorse, The Georgia Review, Boulevard, The Southern Review, Columbia, Colorado Review, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Epoch, and New Letters. He has given readings and workshops at schools, colleges, bookstores, and literary conferences throughout the United States. His awards include an Academy of American Poets Prize, a Pushcart Prize, a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference scholarship, a Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award, and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Ragdale, Yaddo, and The Anderson Center.
He is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Northwest Missouri State University, where he was an editor of The Laurel Review/GreenTower Press from 1986 to 2004. Now living in Lee’s Summit, MO, he teaches in the University of Nebraska low-residency MFA in writing program.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 21, 2009
Wonderful stuff, even for a casual poetry reader. Trowbridge has a wonderful sense of humor and timing that carries the poems. However, there is much heart to be had here as well. He keeps true to the beauty and tragedy that is Kong.
October 18, 2009
There is certainly humor to these poems, but it is a mistake to not take something seriously because it is embodied in humor. There is a level of seriousness that can only be achieved through humor, just as there is a level of humor that can only be achieved through seriousness. Though these poems speak humorously, the emotion they touch is not a laughing matter. Through silly images, such as of Kong as a baseball player or a dancer, Trowbridge reveals the sometimes sweet tragedy of Kong's imagined existence. In revealing that, he also reveals our own.
The imagination in these poems is amazing. Trowbridge makes one of Hollywood's most two-dimensional icons three-dimensional, creating this unimaginably rich previously untold story, in order to have a stage to put forth his visions about life.
Though absurd, the poems come across in an incredibly touching way. Absolutely wonderful. Simultaneously emotional and entertaining.
The imagination in these poems is amazing. Trowbridge makes one of Hollywood's most two-dimensional icons three-dimensional, creating this unimaginably rich previously untold story, in order to have a stage to put forth his visions about life.
Though absurd, the poems come across in an incredibly touching way. Absolutely wonderful. Simultaneously emotional and entertaining.
October 11, 2014
THE COMPLETE BOOK OF KONG is a collection of the musings and reflections of the well-known silver-screen simian. William Trowbridge's Kong tries out for an NFL team, shares a brief Hollywood moment with Godzilla, goes on a video date and steps on more people than the death numbers of a young Clint Eastwood western. And all the while, his love for Fay Wray pulsates like a supernova.
October 17, 2007
Kong is one of my favorite poetic personas ever. He's kind of a brute, but at the same time, he's just trying to make a living over here. Cut him some breaks, thanks.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews