What do you think?
Rate this book
Good Poems
Good Poems: American Places
Another bestselling anthology from Garison Keillor-beautiful verses rooted in the American landscape.
Garrison Keillor, the editor of Good Poems and Good Poems for Hard Times , host of The Writer's Almanac , and all-around arbiter of fine American poetry, introduces another inspiring collection by a range of poets, some beloved favorites and others brash unknowns, organized by regions of America.
From Nantucket to Knoxville, Manhattan to Minnesota, the heart can be exalted anywhere. Think of these poems as postcards-from Billy Collins, Nikki Giovanni, William Carlos Williams, Naomi Shihab Nye, Gary Snyder, Mary Oliver, and many more.
Like the previous Good Poems collections, this volume celebrates the high-spirited, the witty and antic and jazzy voice that in many ways defines the land of the free. Choosing poems full of humor, sharp insight, and warmth, Garrison Keillor once again makes good poetry accessible and immensely enjoyable.
Garrison Keillor, the editor of Good Poems and Good Poems for Hard Times , host of The Writer's Almanac , and all-around arbiter of fine American poetry, introduces another inspiring collection by a range of poets, some beloved favorites and others brash unknowns, organized by regions of America.
From Nantucket to Knoxville, Manhattan to Minnesota, the heart can be exalted anywhere. Think of these poems as postcards-from Billy Collins, Nikki Giovanni, William Carlos Williams, Naomi Shihab Nye, Gary Snyder, Mary Oliver, and many more.
Like the previous Good Poems collections, this volume celebrates the high-spirited, the witty and antic and jazzy voice that in many ways defines the land of the free. Choosing poems full of humor, sharp insight, and warmth, Garrison Keillor once again makes good poetry accessible and immensely enjoyable.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2010
73 people are currently reading
355 people want to read
About the author
Garrison Keillor
279 books840 followersGary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show A Prairie Home Companion (called Garrison Keillor's Radio Show in some international syndication), which he hosted from 1974 to 2016. Keillor created the fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, the setting of many of his books, including Lake Wobegon Days and Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories. Other creations include Guy Noir, a detective voiced by Keillor who appeared in A Prairie Home Companion comic skits. Keillor is also the creator of the five-minute daily radio/podcast program The Writer's Almanac, which pairs poems of his choice with a script about important literary, historical, and scientific events that coincided with that date in history.
In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio cut all business ties with Keillor after an allegation of inappropriate behavior with a freelance writer for A Prairie Home Companion. On April 13, 2018, MPR and Keillor announced a settlement that allows archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac to be publicly available again, and soon thereafter, Keillor began publishing new episodes of The Writer's Almanac on his website. He also continues to tour a stage version of A Prairie Home Companion, although these shows are not broadcast by MPR or American Public Media.
In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio cut all business ties with Keillor after an allegation of inappropriate behavior with a freelance writer for A Prairie Home Companion. On April 13, 2018, MPR and Keillor announced a settlement that allows archives of A Prairie Home Companion and The Writer's Almanac to be publicly available again, and soon thereafter, Keillor began publishing new episodes of The Writer's Almanac on his website. He also continues to tour a stage version of A Prairie Home Companion, although these shows are not broadcast by MPR or American Public Media.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews
February 10, 2025
This was the last book of poetry my poetry loving dad purchased before he passed away suddenly on Mother's Day 2011. His bookmark remains forever on page 337. I never thought I liked poetry, but I've always kept trying and finally I feel like I can say, "I do like poetry and these are Good Poems." 💜
May 11, 2012
How often do you sit down and read a volume of poetry? For me, I know it is not enough. But, I did enjoy this one. It was really nice having someone so literary pick and choose what they thought would be good for you to read.
There were several poems that were so moving, I was brought to tears. They are also some that are quirky and fun, such as the UPS man and Nancy Drew poem. I need to do this more often.
My faves:
18: Moment
42:Summer Kitchen
45: Reverence
122: Gate C22
158: Arc
160: Why I have a crush on you UPS man
270: Snow, Aldo
289: Snow-Flakes
368: The Trestle
379: Nancy Drew
421: Meadowbook Nursing Home
Here's a sample
Nancy Drew
Merely pretty, she made up for it with vim.
And she got to say things like, "But, gosh,
what if these plans should fall into the wrong
hands?" and it was pretty clear she didn't mean
plans for a party or a trip to the museum, but
something involving espionage and a Nazi or two.
In fact, the handsome exchange student turns
out to be a Fascist sympathizer. When he snatches
Nancy along with some blueprints, she knows he
has something more sinister in mind than kissing
her with his mouth open
Locked in the pantry of an abandoned farm house,
Nancy makes a radio out of a shoelace and a muffin.
Pretty soon the police show up, and everything's
hunky dory.
Nancy accepts their thanks, but she's subdued.
It's not like her to fall for a cad. Even as she plans
a short vacation to sort our her emotions she knows
there will be a suspicious waiter, a woman in a green
off the shoulder dress, and her very jittery husband.
Very well. But no more handsome boys like the last one:
the part in his hair that was sheer propulsion, that way
he had of lifting his eyes to hers over the custard,
those feelings that made her not want to be brave
confident and daring, polite, sensitive and caring.
There were several poems that were so moving, I was brought to tears. They are also some that are quirky and fun, such as the UPS man and Nancy Drew poem. I need to do this more often.
My faves:
18: Moment
42:Summer Kitchen
45: Reverence
122: Gate C22
158: Arc
160: Why I have a crush on you UPS man
270: Snow, Aldo
289: Snow-Flakes
368: The Trestle
379: Nancy Drew
421: Meadowbook Nursing Home
Here's a sample
Nancy Drew
Merely pretty, she made up for it with vim.
And she got to say things like, "But, gosh,
what if these plans should fall into the wrong
hands?" and it was pretty clear she didn't mean
plans for a party or a trip to the museum, but
something involving espionage and a Nazi or two.
In fact, the handsome exchange student turns
out to be a Fascist sympathizer. When he snatches
Nancy along with some blueprints, she knows he
has something more sinister in mind than kissing
her with his mouth open
Locked in the pantry of an abandoned farm house,
Nancy makes a radio out of a shoelace and a muffin.
Pretty soon the police show up, and everything's
hunky dory.
Nancy accepts their thanks, but she's subdued.
It's not like her to fall for a cad. Even as she plans
a short vacation to sort our her emotions she knows
there will be a suspicious waiter, a woman in a green
off the shoulder dress, and her very jittery husband.
Very well. But no more handsome boys like the last one:
the part in his hair that was sheer propulsion, that way
he had of lifting his eyes to hers over the custard,
those feelings that made her not want to be brave
confident and daring, polite, sensitive and caring.
January 21, 2012
Keillor’s latest anthology is an American travelogue in poetry. Travel not just in the context of place, but also time, history. As the title states, these poems are uniquely American, a celebration of cities, suburbs, cornfields, oceans, and weather. There is an entire section of poems titled Snow, another titled Out West, another titled Ocean Brine. Contemporary poets predominate, many of them not yet widely known.
Cerise Press published an interview with Thomas Lux in the summer 2009 issue.
Sally Molini asked Lux about accessible poems. Lux’s response, partially quoted below, describes the poems in this anthology; they are hospitable, and they invite the reader to experience the slice of America the poet describes.
Billy Collins says he prefers the word “hospitable” rather than accessible. I think I do too. There’s plenty of room for strangeness, mystery, originality,wildness, etc. in poems that also invite the reader into the human and alive center about which the poem circles. (Thomas Lux)
The anthology format makes it difficult to select favorite poems to quote, as there are simply too many wondrous snapshots. In his introduction, Keillor states, “This is a book of poems in which the poet simply is carried away by a particular place in America.” Now it’s your turn. Enter over 400 pages of reverence for an American place, and prepare to be carried away.
Cerise Press published an interview with Thomas Lux in the summer 2009 issue.
Sally Molini asked Lux about accessible poems. Lux’s response, partially quoted below, describes the poems in this anthology; they are hospitable, and they invite the reader to experience the slice of America the poet describes.
Billy Collins says he prefers the word “hospitable” rather than accessible. I think I do too. There’s plenty of room for strangeness, mystery, originality,wildness, etc. in poems that also invite the reader into the human and alive center about which the poem circles. (Thomas Lux)
The anthology format makes it difficult to select favorite poems to quote, as there are simply too many wondrous snapshots. In his introduction, Keillor states, “This is a book of poems in which the poet simply is carried away by a particular place in America.” Now it’s your turn. Enter over 400 pages of reverence for an American place, and prepare to be carried away.
May 20, 2011
The only thing that the poems in this book really all have in common is an American voice and sense of place, and so they are especially appealing to an American reader. I'm not sure if they would be equally as appealing to readers from other parts of the world, unless it were a reader who was struggling to get a sense of what these crazy Americans are all about. Overall, the book is a profile of the quirkiness and diversity that is America.
There are so many good poems here but two stand out in my mind as favorites. The first is John Updike's "Baseball," not surprising perhaps since I am a baseball fan and an Updike fan. The second is "Why I Have A Crush On You, UPS Man" by Alice N. Persons. What can I say? As one who looks forward to visits from her UPS man, I could relate.
There are so many good poems here but two stand out in my mind as favorites. The first is John Updike's "Baseball," not surprising perhaps since I am a baseball fan and an Updike fan. The second is "Why I Have A Crush On You, UPS Man" by Alice N. Persons. What can I say? As one who looks forward to visits from her UPS man, I could relate.
December 23, 2021
Its my very first time reading a volume, big chunk of poetry and it took me a couple of years to finished reading because some are good, some are meh, some are straight up not interesting at all that made me put it back down and forgot to pick it up again.
What even this page 255? Mecca With Love? not written by a Muslim, but about a Muslim working at a bar I supposed who are crying because an Israeli was killed? 1⭐️ for that reason alone.
What even this page 255? Mecca With Love? not written by a Muslim, but about a Muslim working at a bar I supposed who are crying because an Israeli was killed? 1⭐️ for that reason alone.
March 16, 2021
So delightful to be dropped into another place, another time, and another thought process.
May 4, 2024
A few months ago, I randomly grabbed this book while browsing the shelves of BookPeople and turned to page 41 with Dorianne Laux’s “On the Back Porch”— a beautiful and perfect capture of our beloved summer evenings. This page haunted me until a few weeks ago when I finally picked up the whole volume. There were so many beautiful poems to behold within these pages: The Sacred, Flying Lesson, A Warm Summer in San Francisco, Starfish, UPS Man, San Antonio, To make a prairie, in Texas, Un Bel Di, Fields, Outside of Richmond, Porches II, Earl, Kryptonite, and Meadowbrook Nursing Home to name a few.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to the expansive hype Laux’s poem had predetermined in my mind, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. I do wish there was more diversity— for the 2-3 William Stafford poems per chapter, we could have shared a few more female and/or POC voices. I would also have liked to see a chapter on immigration, on the coveted “American Dream”, on politics, on modern America, as these, too, are our physical/emotional/spiritual “American Places”.
This book is not perfect, but it is enchanting and holds so much potential; and isn’t that, after all, America?
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to the expansive hype Laux’s poem had predetermined in my mind, but I did enjoy it nonetheless. I do wish there was more diversity— for the 2-3 William Stafford poems per chapter, we could have shared a few more female and/or POC voices. I would also have liked to see a chapter on immigration, on the coveted “American Dream”, on politics, on modern America, as these, too, are our physical/emotional/spiritual “American Places”.
This book is not perfect, but it is enchanting and holds so much potential; and isn’t that, after all, America?
December 31, 2020
Garrison Keillor just has great taste in poetry. I enjoyed all three of his collections this year
Read
February 11, 2023With two other like-titled volumes and his daily does of pre-podcast "Writer's Almanac," Keillor brought poetry to the NPR masses. His books aren't quite Halmark, and aren't Best American Poetry. For a general audience, there's nothing too challenging here, but in avoiding such hazards, there's a distinct lack of spice and flavor. I'd call this the weakest of his three collections, with fewer startling entries and some pretty moth-eaten older work.
December 2, 2024
“The solace of the real world: you step out of your jumbled inner life and into the woods along the river and your heart lifts.”
“Poetry is a hushed chapel in which the poet sighs and the congregation must sigh along with her.”
“I want to go on looking at the moon for the rest of my life and seeing footsteps.”
“I felt tears come into my eyes, absurdly, because I knew that summer had peaked and was already passing away. I felt very close to then understanding the mystery; it seemed to me that I almost knew what it meant to be alive, as if my life had swelled to some high moment of response, as if I could reach out and touch the season, as if I were inside its body, surrounded by sweet pulp and juice, shimmering veins and ripened skin.”
“A man is begging on his knees in the subway. Six-thirty in the morning and already we are being presented with moral choices as we rocket along the old rails, through the old tunnels between Queens and Manhattan.”
“...it was 1939 and it would never be 1939 again, in Los Angeles or any place else and I was young and mean and lean and I would never be that way again as it rushed toward us.”
“...they stay, noticing what will never change: the heartprick of longitude and latitude to home in on, the conviction that life depends, every day, on what outlasts you.”
“...and I believe it: this is all there is, all history’s brought us here to our only life to find, if anywhere, our hanging gardens and our street of gold: cracked stoops, geraniums, fire escapes, these old stragglers basking in their bit of sun.”
“That is life’s way of letting you know that you are lucky. (It won’t give you smart or brave, so you’ll have to settle for lucky.)”
“...puddles where it falls. We look at it. It looks back at us. This is how we know ourselves. That is how we know the world.”
“I stop and look at the sky. Suddenly: orange, red, pink, blue, green, purple, yellow, gray, all at once and everywhere. I pause in this moment at the beginning of my old age and I say a prayer of gratitude for getting to this evening A prayer for being here, today, now, alive in this life, in this evening, under this sky.”
“The objects in stores looked best in stores. The stores were possible futures and, young and poor, we went shopping. It was nice then: we didn’t know we already had everything.”
“...I know it is impossible to hold for long what we love of the world..”
“...then you understand all beauty will be lost and that even that loss can be beautiful.”
“It is doubtful that he will make it home again, but he wants to go home.”
“I wish I had danced more. It’s funny, what you miss when everything… is gone.”
“My father had dignity. At the end of his life his life began to wake in me.”
“Mother almost never cries, but she does now. She stares at this stone as if it were the answer to all the hidden things.”
“Poetry is a hushed chapel in which the poet sighs and the congregation must sigh along with her.”
“I want to go on looking at the moon for the rest of my life and seeing footsteps.”
“I felt tears come into my eyes, absurdly, because I knew that summer had peaked and was already passing away. I felt very close to then understanding the mystery; it seemed to me that I almost knew what it meant to be alive, as if my life had swelled to some high moment of response, as if I could reach out and touch the season, as if I were inside its body, surrounded by sweet pulp and juice, shimmering veins and ripened skin.”
“A man is begging on his knees in the subway. Six-thirty in the morning and already we are being presented with moral choices as we rocket along the old rails, through the old tunnels between Queens and Manhattan.”
“...it was 1939 and it would never be 1939 again, in Los Angeles or any place else and I was young and mean and lean and I would never be that way again as it rushed toward us.”
“...they stay, noticing what will never change: the heartprick of longitude and latitude to home in on, the conviction that life depends, every day, on what outlasts you.”
“...and I believe it: this is all there is, all history’s brought us here to our only life to find, if anywhere, our hanging gardens and our street of gold: cracked stoops, geraniums, fire escapes, these old stragglers basking in their bit of sun.”
“That is life’s way of letting you know that you are lucky. (It won’t give you smart or brave, so you’ll have to settle for lucky.)”
“...puddles where it falls. We look at it. It looks back at us. This is how we know ourselves. That is how we know the world.”
“I stop and look at the sky. Suddenly: orange, red, pink, blue, green, purple, yellow, gray, all at once and everywhere. I pause in this moment at the beginning of my old age and I say a prayer of gratitude for getting to this evening A prayer for being here, today, now, alive in this life, in this evening, under this sky.”
“The objects in stores looked best in stores. The stores were possible futures and, young and poor, we went shopping. It was nice then: we didn’t know we already had everything.”
“...I know it is impossible to hold for long what we love of the world..”
“...then you understand all beauty will be lost and that even that loss can be beautiful.”
“It is doubtful that he will make it home again, but he wants to go home.”
“I wish I had danced more. It’s funny, what you miss when everything… is gone.”
“My father had dignity. At the end of his life his life began to wake in me.”
“Mother almost never cries, but she does now. She stares at this stone as if it were the answer to all the hidden things.”
March 28, 2021
“American Places” is the third in Garrison Keillor’s “Good Poems” anthologies and just like the title suggests, most of the poems in the collection are good. Many are really good. And there are a couple of dozen I loved. This volume has about 260 poems. Most are written by poets I’m unfamiliar with and most poems are of recent vintage There are a few poems written by Longfellow, Dickinson, Whitman, and Emerson but most are written by 20th Century poets.
Five poems really stood out for me. The first is “Plastic Beatitude” by Laure-Anne Bosselaar which is a vividly depicted poem describing the Pazzotti’s house and yard. It’s hilarious and conjures up great mental imagery. “Meadowbrook Nursing Home” by Alice N. Persons, despite its somber title, beautifully affirms life. “Mambo Cadillac” by Barbara Hamby uses words, rhythm, and imagery to propel this poem along at a frenetic pace. Wendell Berry’s “They Sit Together on the Porch” is a touching and poignant poem to long-married life. Finally, “The Slave Auction” by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper is so moving and heart-rending as she describes the break-up of slave families in a southern slave market.
There are a few clinkers. My least favorite in the collection is “The Legend” by Garrett Hongo. I found his juxtaposition of extreme violence and the mundane quite unpleasant. Maxine Kumin’s “The Zen of Mucking Out” didn’t do it for me since I’m not a fan of manure poems. “Sleeping Next to the Man on the Plane” describes Ellen Bass’s airplane flight next to a very obese passenger. Patricia Hampl’s “Resort, part IX” was a little too verbose with too many words not saying anything.
The only criticism I have of this book is that Keillor does not include the year the poems were written though he does include short biographies of the various poets. Highly recommended especially if you’re looking for a volume of accessible poetry.
Five poems really stood out for me. The first is “Plastic Beatitude” by Laure-Anne Bosselaar which is a vividly depicted poem describing the Pazzotti’s house and yard. It’s hilarious and conjures up great mental imagery. “Meadowbrook Nursing Home” by Alice N. Persons, despite its somber title, beautifully affirms life. “Mambo Cadillac” by Barbara Hamby uses words, rhythm, and imagery to propel this poem along at a frenetic pace. Wendell Berry’s “They Sit Together on the Porch” is a touching and poignant poem to long-married life. Finally, “The Slave Auction” by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper is so moving and heart-rending as she describes the break-up of slave families in a southern slave market.
There are a few clinkers. My least favorite in the collection is “The Legend” by Garrett Hongo. I found his juxtaposition of extreme violence and the mundane quite unpleasant. Maxine Kumin’s “The Zen of Mucking Out” didn’t do it for me since I’m not a fan of manure poems. “Sleeping Next to the Man on the Plane” describes Ellen Bass’s airplane flight next to a very obese passenger. Patricia Hampl’s “Resort, part IX” was a little too verbose with too many words not saying anything.
The only criticism I have of this book is that Keillor does not include the year the poems were written though he does include short biographies of the various poets. Highly recommended especially if you’re looking for a volume of accessible poetry.
April 15, 2020
Garrison Keillor has done a nice job putting together an assortment of American poems old and new. The brief biographies in the reference section makes interesting reading as I tried to understand the poem by knowing the poet. (This did not often work) As a reader new to poetry, I enjoyed seeing the variety of poems. They were easy to read and follow, reflecting various aspects of American life, city and rural, recent and past. The poems made for good bedtime reading. This book is the third in a series and the book itself had a nice feel and design. I plan to get the others to enjoy as well.
September 24, 2021
I wanted to love this book. I love poetry about places, but sometimes the places were more abstract. Sometimes the poetry styles were more prose-like. I expected more poems I recognizes. In the end, the poems I enjoyed most were those I recognized--usually because of familiar song lyrics. There was not a single poem by Carl Sandburg, Mary Oliver, Robert Frost, or Maya Angelou in this collection. I'm sure the author omitted other well-regarded poets. That was a huge oversight. I'm glad I borrowed this from the library rather than purchasing it. (2.5 stars)
March 19, 2021
Really I think this deserves more like 3.5 stars. It's an idiosyncratic collection, which Keillor admits. It skews heavily towards poets writing in the second half of the 20th century, which is okay I guess. For anyone who has read the original GOOD READS, there are many, many poets that overlap from the earlier anthology. I'd like to see more women and people of color included. All that aside, this is a nice selection for readers who like to dip into poetry.
August 26, 2025
Lindy and I read this book together over the past several months one poem a day before a meal...The poetry in this volume (one of many that Keillor has curated) focuses on the sometimes mundane but always memorable moments of life along the byways, in town, in the country and much more. The poets are all Americans, some are familiar and famous, others obscure (perhaps) but gifted. Life, death, beauty, memory and more are explored and celebrated in this wonderful volume...highly recommended.
January 17, 2025
A true treasure trove of the best American poets discussing different aspects of American life from the 1880s to 2011, I became lost in a fog of dense nostalgia along with wonder over the human experience, and this is exactly what poetry should do. Thank you, Mr. Keillor, for putting this great collection together!
December 31, 2019
This is a very nice selection of poetry reflecting a diverging viewpoints regarding American life as reflected in its geography. I particularly liked the balance of well known poets along side those whose work might receive less placement in anthologies.
May 13, 2017
I always enjoy reading poems by poets I hadn't heard of, and this collection gives me that opportunity.
April 15, 2020
44/15/2020
May 28, 2021
Great collection. So many visions of America! I could read these over and over.
December 13, 2021
I liked this collection, but not as much as the other two in the series
March 10, 2022
Excellent assortment of American poems, thoughtfully selected, with a brief bio of each poet.
June 9, 2024
Great Collection of Poems
A nice group of familiar poems and not-so-familiar poems. I was glad to add this to my collection. Garrison Keillor has done some nice choices.
A nice group of familiar poems and not-so-familiar poems. I was glad to add this to my collection. Garrison Keillor has done some nice choices.
September 26, 2024
Gift from Sharon. Read over the years. Life rhymes.
June 15, 2025
While I enjoyed this, it is definitely the weakest of Keillor's 3 anthologies.
September 28, 2025
This anthology of poems tackles one of my favorite themes: a sense of place! I loved reading this so much that after 5 checkouts at the library, I had to buy this for myself.
December 13, 2025
This book would better be titled "Mediocre Poems."
I got halfway through it, but gave up.
One in every 50 is pretty good, but else it's not worth the time.
I got halfway through it, but gave up.
One in every 50 is pretty good, but else it's not worth the time.
March 4, 2017
As the 3rd book in the series this one was okay.
November 11, 2018
There were a number of good poems in this anthology. A lot of repeat offenders, too.
He seems to like non rhyming dark poetry and the same authors a lot but many of his choices were ones I too would have chosen. I found many of these to be good introductions to poets I was unfamiliar with and throughout the book, I kept stopping and jotting down names of poets and poems.
I liked the end with a blurb for each poet.
He seems to like non rhyming dark poetry and the same authors a lot but many of his choices were ones I too would have chosen. I found many of these to be good introductions to poets I was unfamiliar with and throughout the book, I kept stopping and jotting down names of poets and poems.
I liked the end with a blurb for each poet.
May 29, 2015
Despite the way Garrison Keillor irritates me nowadays, it’s clear we have a very similar taste in poetry. I love his criteria for the poems he selects: short, usually a bit prose-y, powerful, emotional, surprising. I also love his creativity in grouping poems. In this collection, his categories include On the Road, A Warm Summer, City Life, A Sort of Rapture, Snow. Charming! As I read through, I bookmark the table of contents so I can check/star/underline titles and also the author notes at the end, so I can find out something about a new name. It’s fun to see that someone is from the Twin Cities, or taught at Southern Illinois University, or some other kind of mythic link to me.
I love the way he reintroduces me to familiar names, too. This spring, I was bowled over by the William Carlos Williams poem, “Spring and All 1923”: “By the road to the contagious hospital . . . Lifeless in appearance, sluggish / dazed spring approaches.” !!! This is indeed a northern spring poem – and the resonance and mystery of the remarkable first line is amazing. I’ve got Maxine Kumin on my “to read/buy” list, because of what I saw of her in this book, and my table of contents marks poems by William Stafford, Gary Snyder, Kate DeMillo, W.S. Merwin, Linda Pastan, and Charles Bukowski – all poets whose names I know, but whose work I’ve read very little of.
I used DeMillo’s poem “Snow, Aldo” as an opening prayer for a church board meeting, and I sent Louis Jenkins’ “Earl” to my daughter and several others – it was another poem that delighted me and that I reread for several days:
... Well, how else are you
to live except by denial, by some
palatable fiction, some little song to
sing while the inevitable, the black and
white blindsiding fact, comes hurtling
toward you out of the deep?
Thank you very much, Garrison.
I love the way he reintroduces me to familiar names, too. This spring, I was bowled over by the William Carlos Williams poem, “Spring and All 1923”: “By the road to the contagious hospital . . . Lifeless in appearance, sluggish / dazed spring approaches.” !!! This is indeed a northern spring poem – and the resonance and mystery of the remarkable first line is amazing. I’ve got Maxine Kumin on my “to read/buy” list, because of what I saw of her in this book, and my table of contents marks poems by William Stafford, Gary Snyder, Kate DeMillo, W.S. Merwin, Linda Pastan, and Charles Bukowski – all poets whose names I know, but whose work I’ve read very little of.
I used DeMillo’s poem “Snow, Aldo” as an opening prayer for a church board meeting, and I sent Louis Jenkins’ “Earl” to my daughter and several others – it was another poem that delighted me and that I reread for several days:
... Well, how else are you
to live except by denial, by some
palatable fiction, some little song to
sing while the inevitable, the black and
white blindsiding fact, comes hurtling
toward you out of the deep?
Thank you very much, Garrison.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 75 reviews