Goodnight, Gracie (Phoenix Poets) [Paperback]

Lloyd Schwartz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226742059 | ISBN-13: 978-0226742052 | Publication Date: May 1, 1992 | Edition: 1

With Gracie Allen as their uninhibited Muse, Lloyd Schwartz's poems strike an unusual balance between comedy and pathos. His exuberant interest in the social world is qualified by a poignant sense of time and mortality, and of the interior, inaccessible zones of life.

"Like a latter-day Whitman, an addict of contraries or its victim, Schwartz sets out to understand that network in as many ways as his imagination allows. Once you get the hang of what Schwartz is tuning into, you can't stop tuning into it yourself. . . .A master of timing."—Robyn Selman, Voice Literary Supplement

"[Schwartz's] poems seem to think in musical structures; he hears those evanescent snatches of conversation that compose our emotional lives, recognizes their fluid importance, and organizes them for us."—Stephen Tapscott, Boston Phoenix

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Just as George Burns's dialogues with Gracie Allen once taught that apparent wrong turns in conversation often lead to true understanding, Schwartz's poems meander wisely through unexpected territory. The debut collection begins with the sometimes sad, sometimes wry "Reports of My Death" and ends with a description of the poet placing a stone at his father's grave. The writing, seemingly offhanded and vernacular, is precise and balanced, with echoes of Elizabeth Bishop, particularly in the couplets of dialogue. But the material is original and often downright funny. He records stray conversation on a train crossing the Rockies: "I wonder, what's the 'regional specialty' for the Donner Pass?" A visit to a vegetarian household in Hamburg, house hunting near Boston, an excursion through the graves of the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance in the Jewish Cemetery in Queens all lead to an enhanced perception of human mortality, man's limitation. In a word self-portrait Schwartz's gaze looks "centripetal" while his legs seem brushed "centrifugally, / into the surrounding swirl." This physical dichotomy translates to the voice of the poet, confident in honest disarray. Schwartz is a regular commentator on NPR's Fresh Air.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Accomplice
Crossing The Rockies
Dead-battery Blues
Fourteen People: Artie Matteosian
Fourteen People: Danny And Mary Kelleher
Fourteen People: Frank Bidart
Fourteen People: Gail Mazur
Fourteen People: Jane Struss
Fourteen People: Joyce Peseroff
Fourteen People: Lloyd Schwartz
Fourteen People: Margo Lockwood
Fourteen People: Mr. And Mrs. Hamilton
Fourteen People: Ralph Hamilton
Fourteen People: Robert Pinsky
Fourteen People: Tom Joanides
Gisela Bruning
Goodnight Gracie
House Hunting
In The Jewish Cemetery In Queens
In The Mist
Leaves
Love
Pseudodoxia Epidemica
Reports Of My Death: 1. Heroic Measures
Reports Of My Death: 2. A Scare (1969)
Reports Of My Death: 3. Reports Of My Death
Simple Question
Vermeers
Vermeers: 1. Power
Vermeers: 1. The Concert
Vermeers: 2. Personal Reasons
Vermeers: 2. Young Woman Putting On Pearls
Vermeers: 3. Officer And Laughing Girl
Vermeers: 3. Profanity
Vermeers: 4. Rarity
Vermeers: 4. The Artist In His Studio
Vermeers: 5. Inaccessibility
Vermeers: 5. Woman Holding A Balance
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 114 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (May 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226742059
• ISBN-13: 978-0226742052
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,776,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Prosetry in Motion., June 29, 2007

By 

David C. Roller (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Goodnight, Gracie (Phoenix Poets) (Paperback)

A 2007 Summer reading list mini review.

After reading Lloyd Schwartz write in "Prime Times: Writers on their favorite TV shows." that the Burns and Allen show fostered in him a lifelong love of language, I was very interested in reading more of Schwartz's work. I chose Goodnight Gracie as that poem was included in his essay in Prime Times.

I can't tell you that I understood all of his poetry or that I could give it full analysis in the 2-3 paragraphs I have assigned myself to relate here. What I can tell you is that I thoroughly enjoyed his blend of prose and poetry which I have dubbed prosetry. The opening and closing poems relate to death from different angles. "Reports of my death," stems from hearing that he had died (which turned out to be greatly exaggerated.) It is both light and heavy at the same time. Atone which is as refreshing as it is unique. The Final poem "In the Jewish Cemetery in Queens." relates to a visit to his father's grave. Again the tone varies from somber to almost quixotic. It leaves the reader an astonishingly real glimpse into the grieving process.

Jammed between the death you get excellent glimpses of life. Of all the remaining poems I most enjoyed "Gisela Bruning, House Hunting and Love. In all of them he takes prose and arranges it into resonating feelings of loss, love and regret. All in all, I am glad Schwartz was inspired by Burns and Allen with a love of language for Schwartz's love has deepened mine.