after reading the major works, i never doubted that my dearest friend would disappoint me. he didn't, actually.
1. poems: i admit that the poems of joyce are really inferior than his prose works, but some of his poems in this collection are so charming. his poems go to the range from the proto-modernist form of english poetry to the self-referential, light-hearted ones. his range of parody, writing limericks among the poems are, in my honest opinion, enjoyable to the criteria of reading pleasure but not for the scholarly aptitude. joyce knew that, you'll know that if you try reading it that these poems are for pleasure to the people of wounded hearts.
2. play - "exiles": when i was reading leonard cohen's "beautiful losers", i came across one comment on the blurb -- "james joyce is not dead, he's living under the name of leonard cohen in montreal, canada". this comment is somewhat funny, but somewhat true. while reading "exiles", my mind went back and back again to my most favourite cohen song, "famous blue raincoat" because the song's theme matches with the storyline of "exiles". the latter also deals with love, desire, betrayal, infidelity, and most importantly, doubt among three people who are friends to each other. pinter adapted this play for stage later, but if you have read "betrayal" by pinter, you'll know that the premise is very much familiar but now i know to whom he owed that premise of the play. anyway, yes, the play's pace is very slow, but it was maturely written from a genius artist whose forte is not writing drama (that's his only play). you'll stick to the end as what happened in the climax but you won't be disappointed to see the humane ending in a play about tumultuous relationship(s) between people and friends. this is the genius of my dearest friend, james joyce that he was so unique.