Bad Bad [Paperback]

Chelsey Minnis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

Bad Bad moves the unabashedly juvenile persona elliptically constructed in Zirconia into a seriously amusing, un-blushing womanhood. The poems are equally clownish and f*ck-offish, taking on with equivocal weightlessness the lexicons and trimmings of fashion, as it applies to the Self and the garments that clothe the Self, and self-obliteration, as experienced through immersion in the delights and disgust of the Other. "come on the revulsion//the revulsion//// when ////you bring it home////like seafoam//when you bring it home....," she writes, in an ecstasy of encounter. Minnis addresses the inner needs of the poet "the purpose of poetry is to seem as lifelike as possible so that you actually exist" and is everywhere concerned with the denotation of that which is true and necessary to the true and necessary poet. "it is a poem//which is a trough////where you can make your reputation////as a stiff///anyway, I am not trying to be human anymore//////I am trying to be smart....in the head....like a pissant......."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Juvenile mockery of poetry and the American poetry establishment, as well as excited reverence for both, are the themes of Minnis's second collection. Sixty-eight prose Prefaces open the book, chastising career-minded poets (You should not think of getting a job with your poetry.../ .../ Poetry careers are a bad business) while spelling out her own manifesto: I want to write a poem because I don't feel very boring! In the middle are nine extended examples of the kind of lyric that filled Minnis's debut, Zirconia, in which dots, periods or ellipses sprawl across the page, interrupted by lyric outbursts: if you will promise....... to be a young girl.../ ......... I will give you a moustache. Many, most even, may find these dots distracting or annoying, though it's interesting to ponder their meaning. The book closes with alternately compelling and silly prose and verse pieces, including an anti-résumé: 1996/ No car.// Apply for no teaching jobs. Don't publish book. Petulant, clever, sometimes funny, sometimes irritatingly flippant, Minnis's poems will inspire questions as to whether this work qualifies as poetry at all, though some readers—fans of, say, Bill Knott, at his silliest—may find much to like. (Sept.)
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Review

"[I]ndulgent and melancholy....[M]oments of extreme morbidity and anger." --Arielle Greenberg

"[H]er poems take some getting used to." --Robert Strong

"[M]any won't find her...acceptable at all." --Cole Swensen

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Fence; 1st edition (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977106497
• ISBN-13: 978-0977106493
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,012,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a fascinating and exciting young poet, September 18, 2008

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William Knott - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bad Bad (Paperback)

. . . though you wouldn't think so by reading the Publishers Weekly squib above---- Their last comment is the coup de grace: there is no worse insult in contemporary poetry than to be compared to the ignominious Bill Knott!