Customer Reviews

The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry

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The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry by Alan Kaufman is a brilliant anthology, maybe the greatest anthology of new American poetry I've ever read. Part of its genuis is that"Outlaw" breaks new ground, introducing poets unknown to the mainstream while showing how they belong to the Outlaw lineage begun by WC Williams and later the Beats. And I like the way "Outlaw" mixes up the poetry with mini-histories of poets live's and scenes and has lots of wild pictures of poets and motorcycles and cafes and what not. That's great. This book announces a new canon in Americn poetry, has the depth and insight to be taught in classrooms even, but I bet every dreaming kid too from New York to Wichita to LA is going to read this book as a manifesto of revolt and liberation and to get up and do something with your life, be a poet of life!

I have mixed feelings about this collection of "outlaw" poets, because I live outside the U.S. and have lived in countryside China where the government really doesn't care if you live or die or spew green foam from both ends--meaning what? No safety nets like clinics with clean needles and not even a job at Macdonald's, or a flop in a salvation army cot but begging and starving to death and people stepping over your body as it blackens in the street. That's why so much of what these new outlaws say in their street poetry rings slightly hollow to me. (that's not to say that America doesn't mangle and murder its children, but there are--admittedly--a few more ledges to land on in the U.S. before one dives into societal hell.) And of course, among these outlaws is at least one college professor who is as much of an outlaw as my aunt is, and yet another who has a pretty good middle class house and a pension and a wife who indulges his writing the spare, misogynistic exercises he calls poems, and then there are the entertainers and recording artists like Bob Dylan who was never an outlaw to begin with and has made the fortune of record producers and record companies, not to mention his own. So who's kidding whom with this title? Granted, the book is seeded with fine--even great poems like Michael Lally's "My Life"--and legendary names like Bob Kaufman, Jack Hirschman and Woody Guthrie, but for every one of those poems and every one of those names there are a dozen from the posers and the wannabes--and yes, the cry-babies who want to point the finger at everyone but themselves and say a dirty word or two in the bargain to be "shocking" in a world that is now way past shock. That's why a great part of this book is a cookie-cutter yawn, not even as interesting as a midnight Veg-O-Matic commercial. In fact if many of these folks were given a spot on your television you'd probably turn them off--not from shock, not from the gut-wrenching pain they want to share with you, or from the intensity of their vision of the Truth that they've gathered from their lives with their torn and bleeding fingers, but out of sheer boredom. These are the middle-class kids who grew up reading City Lights Pocket Poets and Beat Hagiographies and wanted to find their mugs in the "Left to Right" shots in the middle of those books. This is P.C. territory we're treading in too, so we have to make sure we "respect" (meaning accept uncritically--(and please remember to clap)) everyone and everything here and leave our common sense hanging on the hat rack, thank you.

Even some of the fine poets like Joy Harjo and Simon Ortiz who are represented here contributed not so great poems, and lent their names rather than their talents to this phone-book sized effort. So what? Maybe a book of half the number of pages would have been better. Maybe a more representative selection from the best poets? Who knows?

Ordered as a birthday gift for my 34-year-old son whom I see about every six months. Did not give it to him until the car was packed and hugs were exchanged. Trip time was delayed and bigger hugs were exchanged. I am a devious mom and knew how to plan this if I wanted a good visit. Have received numerous emails and calls beginning with "Mom, you've got to hear/read this." Bought it for him, not for me. He gives it 5 stars as a "must read," and I give it 5 stars as a good gift for young adult poetry readers.

This was a pretty good collection of poetry. about a third of it was really bad, about a third of it was okay, good poetry, but there was a third of it that was outstanding poetry. one problem i had was that many of the well-known great poets in this collection contributed work that definately wasn't their best. and i'm sure they left some out. but still, i'd say it definately needs to be in any poet's collection.

Great bathroom read except that you might find yourself "wanting" to go to the bathroom more often, just to read more. This is a fine sampling of off-the-beaten path poetry by poets that just aren't celebrated even in the most liberal of poetry classes. Some of the poems will stick with you years after you are exposed to it and others slip from your memory once you have spoken/read the last line. The poets and poems aren't logically organized but this is one book where it might be better to just flip the page, reading where it lands open.

I found this book on accident and couldn't put it down for days. Anyone w/ an open mind and a love for poetry must read this book. Kaufman not only included some of the best radical poetry in america, but also goes through great pains to make sure the reader is educated on the authors and the poems back grounds.

A good friend of mine gave me this book as a gift a few years ago. I have heard of many of the poets included and discovered a few that I now consider my favorites. One of these poets is David Lerner. Every poem of his that was included in this volume are perfect works of art. It is a shame that his books are out of print and hard to find. Mike Topp's poems broke new ground to me. Through his work, I discovered poetry in things that I have never noticed before. I highly recommend this collection to those looking for non-traditional approaches to poetry.

i met alan kaufman when he came to alexander book company in SF earlier this spring to promote the outlaw bible of american poetry. he was taking requests and selections from the book and his voice sounded like someone who fit the outlaw description, like someone who had lived and experienced the things he wrote... i loved the poems by bob kaufman, a beat poet icon and creator of the term "beatnik," his work is full of jazz, mysticism, and absurdism...the other beat luminaries, kerouac, ginsberg, and others are good too, but bob kaufman stands out, because he is the least known of the beat poets. I also enjoyed Jim Carroll's poems, he came to SF recently, and while i was unable to make his reading, i read his works, imagining that frail, dovelike, yet masterful voice, spellbinding me with his words...some of the poems here are filler, the book could've done without the james dean poem or the monologue by richard pryor, and while i like tupac as a rapper, he's only average as a poet...

overall, a very masterful work, this will show people that poetry is not confined to the stale, lifeless prison called "academia."

Though I am not yet finished with this humongous book of poetry and prose, I must say it touches me. Touches as in very nearly strangles my heart on a regular basis. I open it, almost unconsiously, and read whatever peom greets me. Poems of War, of Lust, of Rape, of Death, Toilets, Hurt and Love. My God, this is quite a find. There are poems so brutally honest that you want to throw up, but of course, that is the point. Everything contained in these pages is so outrageously honest that it makes you wonder like what folks were smoking when they wrote about those damn blades of grass blowing in springtime, and the shape of snow capped mountains in December. These poems are not sappy-and- shallow-trying-to-sound-deep, if you know what i mean. If you ever get a chance to read this collection, read it. Even if you don't buy it now, read it. Chances are you wont be able to finish it in the ammount of time you are permitted by the library, and you will want to finish every piece so very very much that in the end you will buy it. This is my prediction. It happened to me...

(and i do like sappy poetry occassionally....just for the record)

Some of the finer poems in this book: "In the Event of My Demise" by Tupac Shakur, "Notebook" by Patti Smith, "The Evening News" by William S. Burroughs, "The American Night" by Jim Morrison. These are some of the poets in "The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry" that you may know, but there are plenty of others in there that you probably don't know but should know. Some of their names are pretty weird, i.e., Jennifer Blowdryer. I would like to read something by a person with that name. This is the kind of book you will love to own, you can keep it and keep reading it, and the more you know about these particular poets and their work, the more the work will mean to you and it will inspire you to do some writing yourself, as well you should.