Places/Everyone (Brittingham Prize in Poetry) [Paperback]

Jim Daniels (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1985 | Series: Brittingham Prize in Poetry

    Jim Daniels, in his first book of poems, draws upon his experiences in living and working in his native Detroit to present a start, realistic picture of urban, blue-collar life.  Daniels, his brothers, his father, and his grandfather have all worked in the auto industry, and that background seeps into nearly all these poems.
    The first of the book’s three sections sketches out this background, then moves into a neighborhood full of people whose lives are so linked to the ups and downs of the auto industry that they have to struggle to find their own lives; in "Still Lives in Detroit, #2," Daniels writes, "There’s a man in this picture.  / No one can find him."  The second section contains the "Digger" poems, a series on the lives of a Detroit auto worker and his family which tries to capture the effects of the work on life outside the factory.  Here, we listen to Digger think, dream, wander on psychological journeys while he moves through his routines, shoveling the snow, mowing the lawn, and so forth.  In section three, the poems move into the workplace, whether that be a liquor store, a hamburger joint, or a factory.
    These poems, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, concentrate on the efforts of workers to rise above the often depressing work of blue-collar or minimum-wage jobs, to salvage some pride and dignity.  The poems in this book try to give a voice to those who are often shut out of poetry.  They are important.  These lives are important, and the poems, more than anything, say that.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Daniels, winner of the Brittingham Prize in Poetry, is a fascinating if inconsistent new voice. Simple observations are often unexpectedly metamorphosized into a haunting portrait of working-class life. The poems in the first section, dealing with family and friends, are the most effective. In later sections, Daniels more often assumes a stance: the ``Digger'' persona in Part 2 continues past its natural conclusion, and individual poems become formulaic. The first-person poems in the final section are too often surreal and/or pretentious, containing phrases such as ``Machine, I come to you 800 times a day.'' Daniels is more careful to poetically transform the words he puts into the mouths of others. Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, ``Soho Weekly News,'' New York
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Jim Daniels’ work is strong, direct, with a contemporary validity."—Gwendolyn Brooks

"These poems are both testimony and the articulate gift of its human emotion: that one lives in a world that can feel, and insists on it. . . .Jim Daniels is a poet of unique commitment and ability.  He makes poetry and act of deep caring and recognition."—Robert Creeley

"Daniels’ poems have exactly what one looks for in a first book—a strong, sure new voice, determinedly his own—as if he had no choice—heartfelt, speaking as certain poets seem able to, for those who are too often, not mute, but inarticulate.  The book reads with the power and coherence of a novel, if novels could be written at the pitch of continuous small explosions of emotion."—Stuart Dybek

"These poems are a refreshment.  They hiss and steam with the street’s vibrant hardness, the effort to look around the corner, pain in the eyes after a long day’s work."—Carolyn Forché

"This is gritty writing.  It needs to be read again and again to let your preconceived notions of America change beneath the abrasion of these poems, that is, if you are inclined to seek the truth: Detroit at work in the car factories, and out of work, and at leisure an play and in self contemplation: grease, dirt, and self disgust, from which we get our handsome dashing cars.  What could be more characteristic of American life that this irony.  The book says it all."—David Ignatow

"Jim Daniels is very good, whether he is shoplifting, scraping up dead carrots, or making love to a machine.  There is subtle art in his simple poems.  He keeps the technique, and much of the suffering, to himself.  It is a joy reading him."—Gerald Stern

"Jim Daniels’ tough Motown narratives are stark urban creations.  He has an infallible ear for the words that come from our stricken industrial cities."—Paul Zimmer

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press; 1 edition (October 15, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299103544
• ISBN-13: 978-0299103545
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,380,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accessible, important, and intense, March 26, 2000

By 

Paul A Hamann - See all my reviews

This review is from: Places/Everyone (Brittingham Prize in Poetry) (Paperback)

One of my favorite books by one of my favorite poets...a book you should buy for your friends who say they don't like poetry because they don't understand it.

Daniels takes images from everyday urban life, including the task of making 30 burgers and 30 fries, a child catching crickets for pay from his mom, and Digger, Daniels' representation of a blue-collar worker, waiting up for his daughter on her first date. The title poem, a description of the workers in each department of a department store, is absolutely fantastic--Daniels at his disarmingly direct best. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.