From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Few books of poems have sported more apt titles: in 29 earlier books, the almost implausibly prolific Goldbarth (
Budget Travel Through Space and Time) has mentioned almost every poetic topic, many that no poet before him has tried. Sometimes encyclopedic, sometimes chatty, given always to digressions, Goldbarth has written his long-lined free verse about ancient Near Eastern crockery, collectible figurines from the '40s, Jewish mysticism, "the cookbook used by Madame Curie," "a spirit from the quantum (and therefore invisible) universe," cancer, bereavement, sex, lust, underwear, "native gourds" and "meteor rubble," Keats, coin collecting and "the first of the many McDonald's Happy Meal toys/ that Jeremy received with his McNuggets." Goldbarth's breathless trivia is an end in itself, but it also becomes a means to simpler obsessions, shared with older sorts of lyric poetry. Why do we fall in love, and how can we stay in love? What do children owe their parents, and what, if anything, does America mean? Goldbarth (who has won two National Book Critics Circle awards) badly needed a new selected (his last one came in 1983); this long collection is just right for this poet of excess and enthusiasm, always hoping to show, and often showing, how "the world// not only works but networks."
(Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
No title could be more apropos for a substantial collection from a highly prolific writer, yet one doubts that the poems were as indiscriminately chosen as the title, and the somewhat self-deprecating prefatory note, imply. Goldbarth takes similar care in graciously acknowledging friends, supporters, and editors, particularly of "little magazines," which is especially refreshing for a poet of his publishing stature. But publishing credits aside, this collection of old and new poems proves that Goldbarth is one of the most original poets of our time. His ability to explore new twists on old themes, challenge conservative expression, playfully cause readers to question his earnestness, and exquisitely map his strange and fascinating mental wanderings should easily impress even the most sophisticated readers. With lines like "How even appreciation / of beauty becomes a betrayal," Goldbarth is ever able to share simultaneously profound insight, defused spirituality, and an incessant desire to break down, reinvent, and rebuild, all in pursuit of lifelong discovery.
Janet St. JohnCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
