Given

by Arielle Greenberg

Much anticipated in poetry circles, this debut poetry collection by the well-known younger poet and critic rises to the occasion, at once bold and tender, experimental and clear. Jean Valentine writes: "New consciousnesses shine here in delicate, angry, ecstatic, funny, heartbroken play: the forked lightning of true poetry."

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Arielle Greenberg is the author of My Kafka Century (Action Books, 2005) and Given (Verse Press, 2002), along with the chapbooks Shake Her (Dusie Kollektiv, edited and made by Jen Hofer, 2009) and Farther Down: Songs from the Allergy Trials (New Michigan Press, 2003). Her poems have appeared in journals including the American Poetry Review, Denver Quarterly, Black Warrior Review, Crazyhorse and American Letters & Commentary, as well as the 2004 and 2005 editions of Best American Poetry and other anthologies. She serves as poetry editor for the journal Black Clock and is one of the founding editors of the journal Court Green, and is the founder and moderator of the poet-moms listserv. She is co-editor, with Rachel Zucker, of the anthology Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections (University of Iowa Press, 2008) and, with Lara Glenum, of the poetry anthology Gurlesque (Saturnalia, forthcoming). The recipient of a Saltonstall individual artist's grant and a MacDowell Colony residency, she is an associate professor at Columbia College Chicago and is currently living in Belfast, working on an oral history of the current back–to–the–land movement in Waldo County.

Reviews

[Lightsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one perplexes me. I can't quite see why the poems are finished; they remind me of freewriting. I don't mean that to be as harsh as it sounds. . . the loose feel intrigues me. I get the sense there must be some sort of critique of the politics of tidiness in here--but right now I more think that the critique must be there than feel it. Still reading. . .
Having read most of the book now, I'm coming to like it more. One reason: I don't know how to write poems like these. That in itself is enough to keep my attention.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense like molasses to the point of suffocation at times, this collection was challenging and thoughtprovoking. Some poems left me with that "are you gimmicky or are you amazing" feeling. "Foot and Mouth" was one of my favorites.

[Karon Luddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Taken Aback by Given
to Arielle Greenberg
a poem by KaronLuddy

Given is a great title, but not for this volume.
I like the title: Given What—to Whom—and For What Purpose?
much better, or perhaps—
Taken!, as in “taken to the cleaners.”
Now, obviously and beyond the
shadow of a doubt,
You have a Host
of Reasons for naming it Given;
but I don’t care a damn what
They Are.

The dedication reads: “given to Rob, a gift.”
Might not it have said, “taken from Rob, not a gift?
The cover, oh my, that COVER,
a turquoise velvet trinket holder
with g-i-v-e-n spelled out in shiny turquoise sequins
embedded in beige velvet.
Egads— an empty trinket box perched on spindly gold legs, its lid half-opened:
Pandora on an infinitely smaller scale.

Perhaps instead of unleashing evil
You are throwing
a Party to Startle
us out of our every-damn-dayness
so that we can traipse along in the precise hinterlands
of The Apple-Headed Doll
with the Soft Touch
Teaching English at a Two-Year College
spending Yesterday Yes
with the Judge’s Wife,
The Libertine,
and Katie Yates.

Oh, if I could, I’d be much more
generous in my praise of your
House of Precision, but I’d rather
go through The Touchless Car Wash of Love
eighteen times
than receive any more News from the Front
or take any more tours through the Corn Palace
or the Moon Palace for that matter,
but Arielle,
I’d like to make A Proposal for a Longer Work—
Why not tell us how The Secret History of Chocolate
originated in Green Lakes, Tennessee
right after that startling Tornado at the Dairy Queen?

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I share the feeling many have already written about (and more succinctly than me!) so I will keep it short--I don't quite get most of the poems, but there's something wonderful and amazing about them. Are they totally random or divinely ordered? Gimmicky or totally genius? Perhaps a bit of both. I've read Greenberg's chapbooks and absolutely loved them. They are a bit more accessible than this so perhaps start there if you can.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sky is violet like no other hypnosis. (9)

[the moon] becoming a burning door (9)

as if my throat is an empty shaft (20)

someone has lost a white dress / in my eye that swims like nightfish (39)

the girl cut / into paper dolls (61)

Arielle Greenberg's Balancing the Tide interview.

[Qiana]

currently reading again.

[R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

fuckin scissor clip art! betty page? what else do you want from poetry? how about a poem dedicated to george saunders? that lives up to all that implies? READ THIS BOOK, FOR REALZ.