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Title: Good Poems by Garrison Keillor ISBN: 0-14-200344-1 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 26 August, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: It's an anthology, but don't let that frighten you...
Comment: These kinds of major-press anthologies (especially when put together by a celebrity) tend to be worthless: either heartwarming sop (i.e. "Poems that have Inspired Me") or the same English-class warhorses trotted out again. So I thumbed through "Good Poems" and was surprised to find...good poems; a mix of the standards (Frost, Dickinson, Shakespeare), modern academics (Oliver, Simic), and poets who seldom appear in these kinds of anthologies (Carver, Ferlinghetti, Bukowski.) Well-selected, thoughtfully placed, and (thank God) fun to read, this collection is a real jewel; a perfect gift for someone who thinks they could never like poetry.
Even if the poetry was less than stellar, this book would be worth buying just for Keillor's introduction. Instead of gushing empty platitudes, he takes a hard look at what makes a poem good (as opposed to just technically proficient.) Anyone interested in writing poetry should do themselves a favor and read it (Personally, I'm thrilled that someone else thinks Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, and Allen Ginsberg are overrated, though I have to admit T.S. Eliot is growing on me...)
Rating: 5
Summary: Refined Warmth
Comment: Although I am not one of the most experienced readers or writers of poetry, I do read quite a bit and can vouch for how a set of poems has impacted me and my direct surroundings.
I agree with many of the good things said about this book in previous reviews. It may not be the most advanced or challenging set of poetry to read, but challenge and intellectual intrigue are not my primary concern when reading poetry. I'm impressed if I can flip through a set of poems, enjoy many of them on first read, and gaze at a few of them with utter respect for the apparent simplicities and subtle complexities. It is hard not to respect a poem that grows warmer with every tread.
Whether the reader agrees with the types of poems placed in the collection or not, this set does its job well. I *can* flip through this set of poems in a short 3-5 minute break and something may catch my eye. I feel that he has picked good poetry for people--in general--to read. Let me exemplify:
I was at the airport newstand looking at the usual Computer magazine section as usual (The Poetry journals I enjoy aren't sold at smaller newstands), and out the corner of my eye, I saw my friend holding _Good Poems_. He is not especially interested in poetry, but he just picked this up out of curiousity. It may have been something about the blatant title, or the fact that this was sort of unique on the newsstand, but he liked a poem in it. I grabbed a copy for me to look at and reading some titles I recognized in the contents, I was beginning to be impressed. This isn't mediocre poetry as some reviews have described it.
It's precisely what the author said, there's something Good about them that is warmly, but stubbornly presented to an audience much larger than I would have expected...now whether that's the poet's goal or not is irrelevant. I think Keillor did a fine job--thank's for catching my friend's and my eye!
Rating: 5
Summary: Better "Good" than "Best"
Comment: Keillor's title seems intended to suggest a contrast with the "Best American Poetry" series, and what a contrast it is! Whereas BAP routinely and inexplicably celebrates dreck (it's a scandal how many terrific poems it excludes in favor of mediocrities and that most banal of banalities, the avant-garde), Keillor's anthology is full of readable, memorable, enjoyable poems--poems that can honestly be said to be _valuable_. How refreshing it is, too, to see poems by the likes of Lisel Mueller and Robert Morgan, poets whose work has long been highly lauded but who nevertheless get overlooked by most anthologists. Rita Dove may be right to complain about the small number of minority voices (see her letter in the June/July 2004 issue of Poetry magazine), but this is still the best general-interest poetry anthology to come along since Czeslaw Milosz's BOOK OF LUMINOUS THINGS.
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Title: 3 Doz. Poems: From the Writer's Almanac by Garrison Keillor, Writer's Almanac ISBN: 1565111419 Publisher: HighBridge Company Pub. Date: January, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Poetry 180 : A Turning Back to Poetry by Billy Collins ISBN: 0812968875 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Americans' Favorite Poems by Robert Pinsky, Maggie Dietz, Favorite Poem Project (U.S.) ISBN: 0393048209 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 November, 1999 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Poems to Read: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology by Robert Pinsky, Maggie Dietz ISBN: 0393010740 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Sailing Alone Around the Room : New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins ISBN: 0375755195 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: 17 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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