Poetry. Whether describing the Devil reciting poetry in Hell, the faith of uprooted mice, or a last encounter with a doomed friend, Steve Kowit's poetry has chosen, in the manner of certain Sufi tales, a disarmingly earthy presence. Rhapsodic and hilarious by turns, this poetry is as engaging and accessible as vivid prose. Steve Kowit is the author of several collections of poetry and IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND: THE POET'S PORTABLE WORKSHOP; he has also translated Pablo Neruda's INCITEMENT TO NIXONCIDE AND PRAISE FOR THE CHILEAN REVOLUTION and edited THE MAVERICK POETS anthology. The recipient of an NEA and other awards, he has published work in numerous anthologies and journals including The Los Angeles Times and The New Yorker. He teaches at Southwestern College in Chula Vista.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
The first line of the first poem in the third part of Kowit's collection is "I died & went to Hell & it was nothing like L.A." Kowit has a baggy-pantsed sense of humor, yet he is more than a goofball. Poems on youthful doings in New York and San Francisco reveal him as a postbeatnik, prehippie bohemian who eventually fell into college teaching and marriage. Unlike Zorba the Greek, he has never felt his settled state as anything close to a "full catastrophe." He loves life, people, literature, art, jazz, food, drink, sex, hiking, gardens--all that good stuff. He hates war, poetry readings (his own, that is), and the deaths of friends. He realizes that living is such that it is best not to take yourself too seriously; hence, the shortest poem here, "Credo": "I am of those who believe / different things on different days." The best thing about his poetry, apart from his irrepressible humor, is that it swings, like the subject of his "Solo Monk" --Thelonious, of course. Ray Olson
Review
"How fine to have in our hands The Dumbbell Nebula, the lucid, voluptuous, exuberant poems of Steve Kowit. All of us who've followed Kowit's work have been waiting light years for this collection." -- Dorianne Laux
"I love Kowit's poems--he has more energy, more passion, more fire and more humor in his left little fingernail than most poets have in their whole bodies. The Dumbbell Nebula is a wonderful book." -- Thomas Lux
"I love Kowit's poems--he has more energy, more passion, more fire and more humor in his left little fingernail than most poets have in their whole bodies. The Dumbbell Nebula is a wonderful book." -- Thomas Lux
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Stand-Out in the Stand-Up School,
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This review is from: The Dumbbell Nebula (The California Poetry Series) (California Poetry Series, V. 3) (Paperback)
As one who reads scores of poetry books and thousands of poems each year, I emerged from THE DUMBBELL NEBULA feeling like a fume-filled veteran who'd finally found fresh air. The book is a clear, accessible compilation of rollicking visions, rocabilly rhythms, resonant revelations, and arrresting images-- all carved with compassionate power.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kowit is No Dumbbell,
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This review is from: The Dumbbell Nebula (The California Poetry Series) (California Poetry Series, V. 3) (Paperback)
Kowit is impressive in this collection, a nice blending of humor and narrative voice in these free-ranging poems. Unpretentious, clear, moving, these poems are a joy to read and they serve as an antidote to the pseudo-philosophical goop that passes as poetry these days (see any recent issue of APR). Buy it if you like Koertge, Collins, Webb, Locklin--the West Coast "Stand-Up" school is alive and well.
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Inside This Book
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Late afternoon. Huancayo. We'd made the long haul down from Ayacucho that morning. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Five Spot New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 7
books:
See all 7 books this book cites
5
books
cite this book:
- Incitement to Nixonicide by Pablo Neruda in Back Matter
- Lurid Confessions by Steve Kowit in Back Matter
- Passionate Journey: Poems & Drawings in the Erotic Mood by Steve Kowit in Back Matter
- One Hand on the Wheel (The California Poetry Series) by Dan Bellm in Back Matter
- In Danger (The California Poetry Series) (California Poetry Series, V. 2) by Suzanne Lummis in Back Matter
See all 7 books this book cites
- Middle Ear (California Poetry) by Forrest Hamer in Back Matter
- Good Poems for Hard Times by Garrison Keillor in Back Matter
- In Danger (The California Poetry Series) (California Poetry Series, V. 2) by Suzanne Lummis in Back Matter
- Doubleness (The California Poetry Series) by Richard Silberg in Back Matter
- Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation by Roger Housden on page 156
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