Look Slimmer Instantly!: Poems [Paperback]

Jerome Sala (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2005

In Look Slimmer Instantly! poetry by slam master Jerome Sala feeds off the media it critiques. Sala explores the scary idea that poetry, thought of as a way to escape our media-ridden world, is in fact another media effect. Even our most mundane and oppressive ideologies, he reveals, are infected with the poetic. His work maps a realm rarely covered in poetry, from the worship of money to the erotics of patriotism to the profundities achieved by bad taste. Sala’s subjects offer a gleefully nasty glimpse of what poetry will look like when the genre gets its first major ad campaign.

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Soft Skull Press (July 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932360727
• ISBN-13: 978-1932360721
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,848,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Taser Wit and a Very Old Soul, January 4, 2006

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Look Slimmer Instantly!: Poems (Paperback)

I never noticed the Amazon feature that gives "Text Stats" for the books under observation, and this one is a pip! It reveals that Jerome Sala's new book has more words per sentence than practically every other book it tried to read. At the same time, you get a concordance about which are the top 100 most used words in the book and it looks to me as if "ones" was right up there. Funny, because I've read LOOK SLIMMER INSTANTLY several times now, in all sorts of moods, and never noticed the word "ones." Next time I'll look for it.

In the meantime I'll rest on my memories of a thoughtful, at times laugh out loud crazy collection of lyric and theoretical statements. Sala has the energy and the propulsion to launch rockets out of his pockets, and he's got everything going for him, including a firm grasp on the essentials of the old DICK VAN DYKE SHOW and also its successors, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW and DIAGNOSIS MURDER. He spins the age-old elements into a new, lacerating vision of the way even the very best TV is a desecration of the sacred, and poetry comes like rain to fill up the dry patchy holes in the asphalt.

There were maybe one too many belly laughs as the book neared its end, and the surreal began to hang a little heavily in the patchwork sky. Remember that poem about "The Moon Was Wondering"? "The moon was wondering/ /if it would keep its job/ when all the rest of the night shift/ had been laid off/ /did they really need it to stay around/ and light an empty street?" That IS sort of a long sentence, isn't it, just one question mark at the end of what amounts to a sentence (a whole narrative) and a question (in the form of an interior monologue). Typical of Sala's brilliance and indefatigability. He keeps you going even when you just want to lay down and surrender to sleep.

5.0 out of 5 stars Poems non-poets might actually want to read, August 22, 2006

By 

lex cordis "lexcordis" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Look Slimmer Instantly!: Poems (Paperback)

If you're tired of art about art, philosophy about philosophy, poetry about poetry, etc., tired of stuff that nobody other than fellow practictioners can get any sustenance from, this book is for you. Perhaps this is the wholesome influence of the poet not having a job in a university. These poems are very smart but recognizable, have humanity, fatigue, electricity, wisdom, and lots of humor. Poets must like these poems too since one of them was in the Best American Poetry of 2005 anthology. The cover by Kevin Riordan looks great on display too.