Fear of Dreaming: The Selected Poems

by Jim Carroll

Carroll, a diarist and rock performer, is best known for his coming-of-age memoir The Basketball Diaries, which became an instant classic when it was first published in 1978 and then a national bestseller when a film version of the book was released in 1995. Carroll initially made his reputation as a poet, and has won acclaim and comparisons to everyone from Rimbaud to Frank O'Hara for his delicate yet hallucinatory imagery.

This volume of poetry collects selections from Jim Carroll's Living at the Movies, which was published in 1973 when he was twenty-two, and The Book of Nods, released in 1986. Fear of Dreaming also includes pieces previously unpublished in book form, including "Curtis's Charm," a vignette set in New York City's Central Park about a man convinced he is a victim of black magic, and poetic tributes to Robert Mapplethorpe and Ted Berrigan.

"His poems' urgent, obsessive metaphors pose tensely against their cool, streetwise surface voice, charging them with an electricity that's at once disturbing, sexual, religious, and psychological."--Tom Clark, San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

Genres: Poetry, Literature, Fiction, Poetry Plays, Music

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

James Dennis "Jim" Carroll was an author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work The Basketball Diaries, which was made into the 1995 film of the same name with Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.

Carroll became sober in the 1970s. After moving to California, he met Rosemary Klemfuss; the couple married in 1978. The marriage ended in divorce, but the two remained friends.

Carroll died of a heart attack at his Manhattan home on September 11, 2009, at the age of 60. At the time of his death, he was in ill health due to pneumonia and hepatitis C. He was reportedly working at his desk when he died. His funeral mass was held at Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic Church on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village.

Year of birth corrected & extra info added from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that made me fall in love with poetry, and that's BIG, man. When I was 14, 15, 16, I thought this was a book of overwhelming genius, talent, creativity, insanity. How could anyone not love this stuff-it was sooo different.

In hindsight, however, I've found that it takes a certain type of person to enjoy Carroll's poetry. Academics, for the most part, seem to have ignored him; he's very similar to ee cummings, minus the eloquence. But he's a NYC poet writing about heroin, rock n roll, pain, heartache, love--seriously, why wouldn't academics love him? I honestly don't know. Maybe the same reason most of them ignore Bukowski.

On the other side of the coin, he may be too complex for the everyday reader of poetry. He plays with big ideas, and can be tricky in his use of language. Maybe not tricky, maybe clouded? ambigious? overly figurative? This is probably why his work never goes over well in my creative writing class. what the hell is this guy trying to say? why doesn't he just say what he means????

But it's also why I love him. So here is my favorite poem, from pg 66, the first poem I ever memorized:

"Little Ode on St Anne's Day"

You're growing up
and rain sort of remains
on the branches of a tree
that will someday rule the earth.

and that's good
that there's rain
it clears the month
of your sorry rainbow expressions

and clears the streets
of the silent armies...

so we can dance

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first learned of Jim Carroll while watching the Ron Mann documentary Poetry in Motion. The film ended with Carroll reading "Just Visiting," a great prose poem from his The Book of Nods. Fear of Dreaming includes selections from that book, and from his earlier poetic work Living at the Movies.

Free verse in which the poet employs strong images to represent his experiences of heroin (needles and veins), Catholicism (saints and sacred objects, feast days), New York (the subways, the streets, the nights), Paris (Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire). Flora (the rose, the tree, the leaf) and nightmare fauna (snakes, dragons, insects).

Acquired Feb 26, 2004
Attic Books, London, Ontario

[lola berry-white · Rating 5 out of 5]

the poet of a LIFETIME, the 🍎🍎🍎 of my 👁️👁️👁️...... Oh jim. you were from another world. the kind of genius that you think aliens must have implanted in him for an experiment but the kind of rawness that makes you think that hes cut himself and just bled all over the pages..... Another fucking world i am telling you

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book after seeing the movie "The Basketball Diaries". My interest was piqued and I went out and purchased. Love Carrol's style and flow. It was gritty,raw and real. If you aren't sure if you like poetry/don't know where to start building your poetry collection, this book is a good place to start.

[Alfred · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yes, it is a difficult reading. I bet it is not because our mind is too narrow to comprehend it. It's because there is little meaning behind these words.
I'm not sure how some people think that could possibly be a sign of great depths...

[R.Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry saturated with variance! Jim Carroll is like street cardboard because many people will just ignore it or complain about it, while others like me need it to survive!

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection features the range of poetry that Carrol wrote throughout his careers. I personally prefer his shorter pieces, but his longer poems (which take the form of flash fiction) are interesting as well. He led a very wild life and this can be seen in between the lines of his poetry.

[Chauncey Low · Rating 5 out of 5]

a new favorite.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of lucid hallucinations from Uptown's finest.

[Lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can I give something 0 stars? Half of the poems were nonsensical. I sure as hell didn’t understand them. Was that the intention? I’m not sure. Either way, I skimmed through the latter of this book.

[clive]

unreasonably horny

[Sarah Shahin · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's like living in the movies :))

[Tom Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Pachyderm Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the author of THE BASKETBALL DIARIES comes Mr. Carroll's expediently exciting forays into the ever-expading, effervescent, and compellingly cordial worlds of both psychedelic chemistry combined with the lyrically narrative and compellingly confessional poetry which both Mr. Jim Morrison and. Mr. Jim Carroll are both at times compellinngly and compulsively noted for.

[Jacob Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's amazing.

[Sara Comuzzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

una raccolta di poesie sublime.
che racconta la strada, amici morti, amici a cui hanno sparato. amici nel giro della droga, lo stesso poeta nel giro della droga. una serie di visioni, variazioni estive, variazioni newyorkesi come le definisce lui stesso.
uno stile potente, che si riduce all'osso, che fa fotografie e te le pianta davanti.
un grande poeta, poco conosciuto ed è un peccato.
a chi voglia saperne di più, consiglio il film Ritorno dal Nulla con Di Caprio, biografia di Jim Carroll.

un pezzo all'interno di questa silloge:

Alcuni confidano che il lupo

che hanno allevato dalla nascita

non si rivolti contro di loro.

Alcuni mettono la propria vita

in mani le cui dita

sono cinque silenziosi coltelli.

Alcuni non rammenteranno

niente, o moriranno

di quel ricordo.

[Kitap · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the many books I purchased when I was in college or grad school, hauled from one side of the country to another, got rid of in one book purge or another, and checked out from the library before finally reading it. And that makes some sense in hindsight. Most of these poems simply did not speak to me; if anything they reminded me of my own tortured adolescent attempts at poetry, putting words together in a way that seemed provocatively "poetic" but without really saying anything of substance or even beauty. There were a few semiprecious stones (I can't bring myself to say gems and remain honest) in this collection, most of which comprised some of the essays, works of short fiction, and poems from Carroll's "middle period."

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Richard Brautigan,
I don't care who you are fucking
in your clean california air

I just don't care

though mine are more beautiful anyway
(though more complex perhaps)

and we have white flowers too
right over our window on 10th St.
like hands that mark tiny x's
across infinity day by day"

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is worth it for the poem Love Story.

[april violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few of the poems and short stories are a little flat, but otherwise I dig it. I'm keen on the New York City Variations.

[Wes Young · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although it sounds improbable, Carroll's music and lyrics are far better than his poetry.

[Eileen Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, Jim Carroll is one of my all-time favourite poets.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

jim carroll delivers!

[Shhhtevie St. Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is just something about the way Carroll strings words along that makes his poetry haunting enough to linger in your mind even after the book is closed.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite sections: Living at the Movies; Poems 1973-1985

[Stevie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Jim Carroll but I have a difficult time reading poetry. I was very excited about this book but unfortunately I think I am not open minded enough to understand, as much as I want to.

[Ichor · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite poet, my favourite poetry book.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the poems and short stories it was filled with. I couldn't relate to most of it but some of the words inspired me to write a bit of my own. Some of them are worth reading.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

stunning...

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite collection of poetry.