A Hummock in the Malookas

by Matthew Rohrer

Exploring quirky perspectives on truth, a critically acclaimed collection of poetry explores a landscape of skewed realities in which the impossible becomes familiar. Winner of the 1994 National Poetry Series. A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year; winner of the 1994 National Poetry Series. In the singular landscape of Matthew Rohrer's first book of poems, the weather, the food, even the household appliances come to life. "A few pages into this book," says the Minneapolis City Pages, "and you'll start glancing sideways at the terrain, which . . . looks suddenly vital." These quirky poems entertain and delicately point to truth. Rohrer illuminates a land of skewed realities where the impossible seems familiar, the sacher torte is afraid to be eaten, and it's always dusk in the forest.

Genres: Poetry

78 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1991

About the author

Matthew Rohrer is the author of Destroyer and Preserver (forthcoming from Wave Books in 2011), A Plate of Chicken (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2009), Rise Up (Wave Books, 2007) and A Green Light (Verse Press, 2004), which was shortlisted for the 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize. He is also the author of Satellite (Verse Press, 2001), and co-author, with Joshua Beckman, of Nice Hat. Thanks. (Verse Press, 2002), and the audio CD Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. He has appeared on NPR's "All Things Considered" and "The Next Big Thing." His first book, A Hummock in the Malookas was selected for the National Poetry Series by Mary Oliver in 1994. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches in the undergraduate writing program at NYU.

For more information on this author, go to:
http://www.wavepoetry.com/authors/32-...

Reviews

[Eric T. Voigt]

Sitting on a private beach I don't have the property rights to burning the hell out of my belly. That's how I read this. Hiding out in my room with the fan on in addition to the air conditioning because it was in the high 80s still in the middle of the night. I also read this book in that situation. This book's Summer. This book's great. Rohrer Binge to continue merrily.

[Zach]

What a fine debut!

[Patch]

Like talking to a quirky and possibly slightly crazy old man. Whimsical, funny at moments and surprisingly intense at others. Moments where you're like "is this racist or just some weird old person phrase im unfamiliar with?" (Idk what "Chinese breasts" means, like in the context it was used in). Fav poem was "a young person's guide to the month of june", it especially had that weird old person energy, and certain lines felt very applicable to the state of the world around me (even though it is july).

[Donald Armfield]

This is my second collection of Matthew Rohrer poetry. An award winning collection from National Poetry Series. He pens out
"Inside the egg something is laughing" and "From a mosaic found in the basilica" absurdity, a little bit of love and much more. Great collection. My favorites listed below.

★After the performance
★Drama
★Conflagration
★Cribbage Rules
★Rat
★When I cut off my hand

[C]

especially
"the empty locket"
"to a croatian poet"
"drama"
"rat"
"found in the museum of old science"
"will the red hand throw me"
"ah yes, that question"

[Alexandra]

Bizarre and beautiful but not emotionally moving.

[Andy McCarthy]

Great poems that are mini stories

[Juliet]

Didn't finish, but based on what I read, I'll give it 2 3/4 stars.

It's not that it's bad; just not my style.

[paulA neves]

Not my thing in poetry but I appreciate what Rohrer's doing in this, his first collection when he was just a wee poet with promise fresh out of the Iowa Writer's Workshop.

[Melissa Bowers]

Rohrer uses really vivid (and often bizarre) descriptions in his poetry. This is the kind of poetry that makes you go, "Huh, well, that's an interesting way of looking at things." A lot of the poems in this book are a little "out there" for me and not really my style, but I think that this is one of Rohrer's earliest collections; his perspective is unique and creative and interesting, and I will probably give one of his more recent collections a try to see if he has mellowed out over the years. I feel like maybe some of the super-weird and super-random aspects of this book are a result of Rohrer trying too hard in his youth to say something that had never been said before; I'm curious to see how his style has developed over the course of a couple more decades.