Customer Reviews

The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch

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Something inside me resists calling Kenneth Koch my favorite poet. His poems are too conversational, too easy-going, too entertaining to be so important. Except the one that made me break out in laughter while I was reading it on a treadmill at Bally's. And the one that made me cry (on that same treadmill, damn it!) And the one that scared me--really scared me--because simply, lightly, even jokingly, it presented a truth I absolutely did not want to hear. . .Now that I think of it, I realize that without any special effort on my part, I formed the kind of relationship with Koch that folks back in the old country had with Yevtushenko, Bloch or Pushkin. (Without any effort on my part, I say--all the effort was Koch's.) Koch is dead now, of course. But open the pages of this book, and he'll become a part of your life as well--as a friend, a teacher, a soulmate.

It's hard to believe there has only been one other review of this book, which has been out for months now. Granted it is a collection of works that (may) have already been published. And it is awfully big, especially in an already overcrowded apartment. But still, this is a work of great magnitude and an extraordinary collection by this extraordinary poet. Some of his poems are so immediate, I feel I can hear his voice as he is spontaneously creating them. And yet, only someone with great skill and insight can make poetry seem so effortless and free wheeling. If I were king, and I am still hoping, I would decree a copy of this collection in every house in the realm. That's how good it is.

Although the book was somewhat worn, it holds together well - physically as a book, metaphorically as a collection of thoughtful and insightful words.