The Irrationalist

by Suzanne Buffam

“Buffam’s often deadpan tone is like a magical dustpan that sweeps up the strangest observations and ideas, all worlds to themselves. Her ‘Little Commentaries’—‘On Piñatas,’ ‘On Fountains,’ and ‘On Vanishing Acts’ (to name only a few)—are absolute gems, kin to Anne Carson’s town poems and Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit. Buffam’s poems tug at new corners of the brain. They’re marvelous.”
- Matthea Harvey

“Buffam begins with a world that ends, a world that is always ending. This is not despair, but a shrewd mind behind an honest eye that in wry observation creates out of small poems a book of knowledge, ‘Little Commentaries,’ which show there is no wisdom unsharpened by wounding wit. That motion is an essential motion, and these are essential poems.”
- Dan Beachy-Quick

“These poems try to achieve something almost not to betray the ironic today while celebrating the interiority of a serious meditation. And they succeed in doing it. What a treat!”
- Adam Zagajewski

Genres: Poetry, Canada

104 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2010

About the author

Suzanne Buffam is a Canadian poet, author of two collections of poetry. Her first, Past Imperfect: Poems (House of Anansi Press, 2005), won the Gerald Lampert Award in 2006. Her second, The Irrationalist (Carnarium Books, 2010), was shortlisted for the 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize. Her poems have been published in literary journals and magazines including Poetry, Jubilat, A Public Space, Denver Quarterly, Colorado Review, Books in Canada, and Prairie Schooner; and in anthologies including Breathing Fire: Canada's New Poets. She earned an MA in English from Concordia University in Montreal, and an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Chicago.

Buffam was a judge for the 2013 Griffin Poetry Prize.

Reviews

[D.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buffam does a great many things well, including prose and hybrid styles. But I have to say that what drives this book for me is her astute turns: wry, witty, and capable moments of doubling back into a thought to broaden or deepen it. No where is this skill more apparent than in the section of the book entitled "Little Commentaries." "The magician says watch closely./The lover says close your eyes." ("On Vanishing Acts") This is a book to return to repeatedly; if only to fall deeper in love each time. How often do we get to say that about any book?

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

i either loved these poems to death or didn't click with them at all, depending on the poem.

so 3 *'s is an average, not a verdict.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Scattered thoughts...

- almost seems like three separate books. And yet, they coexist quite well. I'm not even consciously sure of exactly how they intermingle, but they do. And that is enough.

- the middle section of poem-lets is cute. Some humor, some pathos, some real stabs at meaning. I am a fan of aphorism, though.

- I really liked the couple of white pages that separated the final poem from the rest of the manuscript. Some may see it as gimmicky, but I like it. Felt like a held breath, an aside between friends, a p.s.

- I love "Occasional Poem."

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suzanne Buffam is brilliantly witty without pretension. Her writing is thought through and meditative. I found there to be something special about this one, and yet, I fail to point to it, unable to describe. I prefer her newer work, A Pillow Book, and recommend this one as well.

[Aaron Belz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book. Count me as a fan.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every poem is seemingly voiced by the same persona, the "irrationalist" of the title, who muses on life and the nature of reality—often in the same epigrammatic way as great philosophers of old like Confucius, Sun Tzu or even Nietzsche. The issue mostly is that in order for this epigrammatic style to be truly effective, the koans themselves and the thoughts they represent have to be truly original or profound. Here, a lot of the musings are relatable but familiar, and often they aren't adorned with enough vivid images to really sing. The effect is a bit like reading an idiosyncratic essayist rather than a poet (though that's not necessarily a bad thing).

Still, there are some nice moments throughout. Part I has some interesting turns of phrase and images and Part III has a standout in "Trying," the longest, freshest and most essayistic poem in the collection. Part II, in the middle, is likely to divide readers. At their best, the poems in that section are short, quippy and playful ("On Necessity" is a highlight); on the other end of the spectrum, some feel too much like platitudes that don't quite reach the heights of the philosophical predecessors they reference.

"The Irrationalist" was a quick read and I often felt a little frustrated by my search for moments that would stop me in my tracks. Still, the collection is quite cohesive if you embrace the concept and persona, and I'm curious to see if re-reading it in the future will leave me with a different impression.

[DW · Rating 5 out of 5]

A random pick. I had no idea I would have discovered someone whose writing I like this much. I'm off to read the rest of her stuff. If she my favourite Canadian poet? Who is this person! Suzanne Buffam, apparently. And she's amazing!

[Corin · Rating 4 out of 5]

On Vanishing Acts
by Suzanne Buffam

The magician says watch closely.
The lover says close your eyes.

[petya · Rating 5 out of 5]

delightful and poignant and everything i wish to capture in life. if you wish to have a coffee shop chat with an old friend—don't bother, pick this up instead.

[Jeffrey Greening · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 1. Bland. Part 2. Awesome. Part 3. Brecken’s bath tub poem is what I was reminded of.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

ON VALLEYS

To be a valley
Find a hill
And lie down at its feet.

These are easy logics. They sound good but are they true? That's part of the fun of reading this book. The middle section is the most fun, full of short poems on every subject, reminding me sometimes of haikus and sometimes of aphorisms. Lots of quick humor. Based on this section, I think Suzanne would be great at Free Poems.

Of course, it goes beyond that, and there is more depth to it than my description suggests. She's preoccupied with time and relativity and perspective. Also: the end of the world, or the world without humans. The speaker of these poems is a little sad, a little mocking, a little cynical. She often brings scientific or mathematical subjects to life through vivid metaphors.

ON CLOUDS

To be a cloud
Find a hill
And swallow it.

ON LAST LINES

The last line should strike like a lover's complaint.
You should never see it coming.
And you should never hear the end of it.

ON RIDING BACKWARDS ON TRAINS

Through the red hills and over green dells
The shock of it shakes from you
Endless farewells.

There goes a fountain. There goes a goat.
Back to the future
Heart in your throat.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suzanne Buffam's second book feels like two books in one; a book of prose poems and short lyrics, and then the "Little Commentaries," which are very short poems, aphorisms, and epigrams, for example, "Inverse Relations": "The pleasure I feel | When I say the word 'trousers' | Is equal, exactly | To the discomfort I feel | When I say the word 'slacks'. Say what one will about the poems in the first book, there's pleasure to be had in such an epigram. I wish the "Little Commentaries" were a single book, but since they aren't, I'll consider the somewhat more astringent experience of a prose poem about conception, "Trying": "If procreation were a matter to be decided purely on the basis of rational thought, would the human race still exist? Schopenhauer thought not." This is genteel and droll, but I feel I know why I didn't know that. Verse form, meanwhile, provides Buffam's gracious intellect with some of the body it needs to tell her when the mind is lively, and not just sharp.

[Mahsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lovely little book of poetry is divided into a three sections. I, II & III. The first and last section have the relatively longer poems in them and they middle sections are more like short observational snippets. What made this book an effective work of poetry is the multifaceted ways the author approaches the topic and that is how the book for me seemed like a seamless entity, in its ability to keep pulling something new out in each line. I know some people commented on the cohesion of the piece, but I disagree, I think it's cohesive in that it gives itself the space and permission to address topics in a varied way. There were moments where I laughed out loud, when I took a meditative pause and every other emotion in between. I felt that Ms. Buffam had a controlled use of language and a bravery of implementation in this work.

[Erin M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This amazing little gem of a book is full to the brim with epiphany moments, intelligent insights, and very quotable short lines, delivered with care, brevity, and attention to detail. Suzanne is an artist as she moves easily back and forth - sometimes within the same poem - from a meandering, dreamlike tone, to bare, decisive lines that pack a punch.

I found this book extremely easy to relate to in its scope, subject matter, and tone. It is a certain talent to be able to transcribe thought into word, and this is done with skill between the pages of this book.

I'm sure I will return to it again and again, with the joy of peeling back another layer.

One of my favourite shorts:

On Duration

To cross an ocean
You must love the ocean
Before you love the far shore.

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

from The New Experience:

Experience taught me
That nothing worth doing is worth doing

For the sake of experience alone.
I bit into an apple that tasted sweetly of time.

The sun came out. It was an old sun
With only a few billion years left to shine.

from Occasional Poem: "If I find it harder to learn the future tense than the younger / students in my Spanish class do, it is because so much more / of my life resides in the past."

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three shorter poems from The Irrationalist by Suzanne Buffam:

ON INVECTIVE

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on
Is often just another way of saying come back.


ON SUICIDE

People who commit suicide don't fail to believe in life.
They fail to believe in death.


ON HUMMINGBIRDS

The smaller the heart the swifter the wings.

[Steven Buechler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is what we perceive what we really see? When we look at something do we really and truly understand it? Or are we misjudging and dismissing items that are really important. These are the types of questions that come up when one reads Suzanne Buffam excellent collection of poetry called The Irrationalist.

http://wp.me/p46Ewj-HT

[Lina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this while on the beach on Thetis Island. It is rare that poetry gives you some laugh out loud moments, but this book did. Funny, irreverent, smart with a lot of lines that I would like to steal. Might just have to buy my own copy of this book and take a better look.

[Gala · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this thin volume of poetry three times through within a library borrowing period. I love Buffam's approach to language, her rhythm, her combination of reverence and irreverence, introspection and circumspection. Hurrah!

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially enjoyed some of the poems in the "Little Commentaries" series.

[Colorado Review]

Reviewed for Colorado Review by John Whalen

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Versatile and lovely. I liked almost every piece in this collection.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not all impulse buys are good ones :P. There was one poem I really liked, "Enough," and some of the shorter ones, but overall I was underwhelmed.

[Bayley McDaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible piece that makes you think a wee bit differently, more conceptually, and plays with concepts of time and political / cultural inheritance in a beautiful way.

[Russel · Rating 5 out of 5]

SECTION TWO! SECTION TWO! Idk about the rest.