Customer Reviews

The Guns and Flags Project: Poems (New California Poetry)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

...or very perceptive. Such as the reviewer below who gave Mr. O'Brien's book such a thrashing. Yes, we are all entitled to our own point of view. Yes, the dustwrap on the book says that O'Brien is influenced by Stevens. No, his poems aren't incomprehensible. Yes, they require effort (goodness forbid). One might keep in mind that sometimes when book and reader's head meet, it isn't the book that is lacking. Give Guns and Flags the time it warrants and never, read reviews.

This book is brilliant! Geoffrey G. O'Brien is the freshest voice in poetry. His work is a cascade of insightful imagery. The influence of Wallace Stevens is palpable, but O'Brien has taken steps beyond where Stevens leaves off. His sense of the mundane and his hope of deliverance from it is deeply moving. And hopeful. He is an exciting presence who shows great promise for the future. I can't wait for his next missive.

The use of language is intoxicating, like inhaling the fumes of paint thinner. The best of this collection reminds me of Stevens. In fact, some of it is Stevens, just slightly off. As if someone had taken a fuzzy polaroid of a pond and hung it in a gallery--yes, in some ways it resembles a Monet, but in many ways it does not. I liked that this book was being called poetry. It'll mystify your friends who try to read it as if it's poetry. That's why I give it a star.