Review by Booklist Review
Filled with sharp irony and passionate insight, the more than 100 poems in this collection span the career of one of the deans of contemporary poetry. These "really short," intellectually stimulating sound bytes shed new light on the poet's wit and wisdom. Natural sights become visions: "It was so windy / last night the snow / got down nowhere / except against something." Sex is bewildering: "One failure on / Top of another." And learning about life is learning about irony: "The smart gain / knowledge / and learn to / express / themselves to join / the world of power / where / it pays to / know / little and say / less." Throughout, Ammons makes you laugh and forces you to think hard about the way humans relate to natural phenomena and to themselves. From such simple, short expressions emerge complex, often confounding ideas. New readers of poetry as well as those with an active interest in lyric verse will love this volume. ~--Thomas Phelps
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
The best short poems return much more than they demand, and these insightful brevities culled from 40 years of Ammons's work require a steamship to haul their pleasures home to the reader. Rarely venturing beyond a terse tenth line, they encompass wit (``It's hard/ to live/ living it/ up/ down''), paradox (``I have nowhere/ to go and/ nowhere to go/ when I get/ back from there''), koan -like mystery (``What lightning/ strikes/ in an/ instant/the boulder hums/ all year''), and an unusual understanding of nature's processes and politics (``The reeds give/ way to the/wind and give/ the wind away''). Perfect for those who claim no time for poetry, this can be savored in bits or in batches. Hope and expect to spot it frequently at subway stops and luncheonettes.-- Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
