Real Things: An Anthology of Popular Culture in American Poetry [Paperback]

Jim Elledge (Editor), Susan Swartwout (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 1999

"What a great premise for an anthology! And it succeeds, both in its celebration of our crazy culture and its fascinating analysis, through the poems, of popular myths that have stood the test of time." —Kliatt

In the past few decades, poetry about and around popular culture has become a very hip contemporary art form. Real Things is a collection of over 150 poems by more than 130 poets who themselves represent the cultural diversity of the United States. With subjects ranging from the influence of Mickey Mouse on child-raising to the relationship of Barbie to sex in America, from the societal effects of the movie Psycho to our fascination with dirty politics and Ralph Kramden, the poems in this anthology question and celebrate the attitudes that our society shares.

Editorial Reviews

Review

November 22, 1983 by Sherman Alexie
Pickup by Paul Allen
Tattoo #47, Happy Dragon by Paul Allen
Teaching Poetry At Votech High, Santa Fe, The Week John Lennon Was Sho by Paula Gunn Allen
Blue Suede Shoes by Florence Anthony
Famous Women - Claudette Colbert by Kathleen De Azevedo
8-ball At The Twilite by David Baker
The End Of The Reagan Era by Peter Balakian
When I Think About America Sometimes (i Think Of Ralph Kramden) by Dorothy Barresi
Dreaming At The Rexall Drug by Robin Becker
Peter Pan In North America by Robin Becker
The True Story Of Snow White by Bruce Bennett
Of Time And The Line by Charles Bernstein
In A U-haul North Of Damascus by David Bottoms
In The Black Camaro by David Bottoms
Jackie In Cambodia by Catherine Bowman
Rapunzel by Olga Broumas
Lunch With Girl Scouts by Sharon Bryan
Superman Is Dead by Rafael Campo
Ghosts by William Carpenter
Breasts by Maxine Chernoff
Note Passed To Superman by Lucille Clifton
Soap by Jane Candia Coleman
David Cassidy Then by Dennis Cooper
Gilligan's Island by Dennis Cooper
Some Adventures Of John Kennedy, Jr by Dennis Cooper
Jeanne Dixon's America by Gerald Costanzo
No Deposit No Returns by Carlos Cumpian
Jack, Afterwards by Philip Dacey
Short-order Cook by Jim Daniels
Ted's Bar And Grill by Jim Daniels
Frankenstein by Connie Deanovich
From Ephemera Today On All My Children by Connie Deanovich
Why Don't I? by O. F. Diaz-duque
Days Of 1981 by Mark Doty
After Reading Mickey In The Night Kitchen For The Third Time by Rita Dove
Barbie's Molester by Denise Duhamel
The Man I Love And I Shop At Jewel by Jim Elledge
Outside Room Six by Lynn Emanuel
The Stripper by Anita Endrezze-danielson
Mannequins by Daniel Mark Epstein
The Lady In The Pink Mustang by Louise Erdrich
Coca-cola And Coco Frio by Martin Espada
Transient Hotel Sky At The Hour Of Sleep by Martin Espada
Lost Parents by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
The Bride Of Frankenstein by Edward Field
A Supermarket In California by Allen Ginsberg
Lonely Tylenol by Peter Gizzi
The Counterfeit Earth! by Albert Goldbarth
The Talk Show by Albert Goldbarth
Indian Car by Catron Grieves
Mythology by Marilyn Hacker
Motown / Smokey Robinson by Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn
St. Clare's Underwear by Barbara Hamby
We Encounter Nat King Cole As We Invent The Future by Joy Harjo
Why That's Bob Hope by William Hathaway
Iowa Blues Bar Spiritual by Juan Felipe Herrera
Mantle by William Heyen
Moon Winx Motel by Emily Hiestand
In The Days Of Rin-tin-tin by Daniel Gerard Hoffman
Liberace by Jonathan Holden
Why We Bombed Haiphong by Jonathan Holden
Off From Swing Shift by Garrett Kaoru Hongo
Billie In Silk by Angela Jackson
A Personal History Of Hands by Lori Jakiela
The Incognito Lounge by Denis Johnson
The All-night Diner by Markham P., Iii Johnson
The Birth Of Rhythm And Blues by Patricia Spears Jones
If I Were Rita Hayworth by Patricia Spears Jones
On The Bearing Of Waitresses by Rodney Jones
Tv by Rodney Jones
Mid-year Report: For Haruko by June Jordan
El Elvis by Wasabi Kanastoga
Funicello At 50 by Klipschutz
Never Land by Yusef Komunyakaa
Up by Bill Kushner
The Difference Between Pepsi And Coke by David Lehman
Whitman by Larry Levis
James Dean & The Pig by Joseph Like
Postmodern: A Definition by Joseph Like
Echoes by Timothy Liu
Ikon by Timothy Liu
The Day They Eulogized Mahalia by Audre Lorde
Sonny's Purple Heart by Adrian C. Louis
One Meat Ball by Thomas Lux
Hazel Tells Laverne by Katharyn Howd Machan
No, Superman Was Not The Only One by Katharyn Howd Machan
Suzie Wong Doesn't Live Here by Diane Mei Lin Mark
Mail Order Catalogs by William Matthews
A Story Often Told In Bars: The Reader's Digest Version by William Matthews
Pornography, Nebraska by Sandra Jean Mcpherson
Barbie Says Math Is Hard by Kyoko Mori
An Anointing by Thylias Moss
Shopping For Midnight by G. E. Murray
Mom Did Marilyn, Dad Did Fred by Jack Myers
Tradition And Change by Nora Naranjo-morse
The Novelty Shop by Duane Niatum
Self Portrait As Nancy Drew, Girl Sleuth by Kristy Nielsen
Tabloid News by Blythe Nobleman
Catalogue Army by Naomi Shihab Nye
The Death Of Marilyn Monroe by Sharon Olds
For Emily (dickinson) by Maureen Owen
In The Bluemist Motel by Greg Pape
Vanna White's Bread Pudding by Michael Pettit
Toys by Carl Phillips
My Son Shows Me A Photograph Of Michael Jordan Performing A Slam Dunk by Louis Phillips
The Apparition by Carol J. Pierman
The First Rock And Roll Song Of 1970 by Pedro Pietri
The Dancing Sunshine Lounge by Thomas Rabbitt
The Man She Called Honey, And Married by Alberto Alvaro Rios
After The Wedding Party by Matt Rohrer
Marilyn Monroe Indian by Leo Romero
The Black Back-ups by Kate Rushin
Blonde Ambition by Maureen Seaton
A Story Of Stonewall by Maureen Seaton
Hygiene by Reginald Shepherd
Woodstock by Jan Mitchell Sherrill
Waitress by Jason Shinder
Dizzy Girls In The Sixties by Gary Soto
Tv In Black And White by Gary Soto
Shoplifters by Maura Stanton
Scrabble by David Starkey
Because You're American by Kevin Stein
Punk Pantoum by Pamela Stewart
The Gypsy Teachers Her Grandchild Wolfen Ways by Susan Swartwout
Siamese Twins In Love by Susan Swartwout
Arrowhead Christian Center And No-smoking Luncheonette by Janet Sylvester
'mericn Fst Fd by Thom Tammaro
Pay Up Or Else by Luci Tapahonso
The Motorcyclists by James Tate
The Shower Scene In Psycho by David Trinidad
Kong Breaks A Leg At The William Morris Agency by William Trowbridge
Viet Kong by William Trowbridge
Suzy Wong's Been Dead A Long Time by Kitty Tsui
Scene From The Movie Giant by Tino Villanueva
Harold And Imogene by Paul Randolph Violi
Misguided Angels by Gale Renee Walden
Rumpelstiltskin Convention by Charles Harper Webb
Homage To Elvis, Homage To The Fathers by Bruce Weigl
Oshi by James L. White
Francis Ford Coppola And Anthropologist Interpreter Teaching Gartewien by David Wojahn
'it's Only Rock And Roll But I Like It': The Fall Of Saigon, 1975 by David Wojahn
My Father's Pornography by David Wojahn
By-products by Baron Wormser
Shoplifting by Baron Wormser
Take Good Care Of Yourself by Mark Wunderlich
Corpse And Mirror: 3 by John Yau
Romance by Paul Zimmer
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Among JIM ELLEDGE's ten books are four collections of his poetry, most recently Into the Arms of the Universe which won the 1995 Stonewall competition for gay and lesbian poets; four volumes of literary criticism; and Sweet Nothings: An Anthology of Rock and Roll in American Poetry, also published by Indiana University Press. Professor of English at Illinois State University, he teaches in that department's creative writing program and is director/editor of Thorngate Road, a press.
Susan Swartwout is Assistant Professor of English at Southeast Missouri State University where she teaches creative writing and literature. She also serves on the editorial staff of The Cape Rock and advises the student literary magazine, Journey. Her two collections of poetry are entitled Freaks and Uncommon Ground, and she has poems published in literary journals such as Nebraska Review, The Cape Rock, Mississippi Review, Negative Capability, and Spoon River Poetry Review.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (March 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253212294
• ISBN-13: 978-0253212290
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #658,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cure For Our Schizophrenic Culture, June 15, 2003

By 

Robert S. Robbins (Williamsport, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Real Things: An Anthology of Popular Culture in American Poetry (Paperback)

It has always bothered me to read pretentious modern poetry which makes reference to Greek mythology, ancient history, and other esoteric subjects which are the delight of scholars but which are completely irrelevant to our life and times. Ezra Pound is a particularly aggravating practitioner of scholarly poetry. Modern poetry should be capable of embracing our tawdry popular culture and transforming it into the sublime though the simple devices of contemplation and intellectualization. The poet should have something to say about shopping malls and television even if only to point out how they provide depersonalizing experiences which tend to isolate us.

Real Things contains many poems that are delightful if only for their subject matter; poems about Gilligan's Island, soap operas, Superman, Frankenstein's monster, grocery stores, shopping malls, and strippers. Many of these poems are easier to relate to than "serious poetry" because the poets are being true to their actual experience of the mundane which is far more likely to speak to our life experiences than another retelling of the tragedy of Orpheus.

There are a few notable poets missing from this anthology. I think Charles Bukowski, Lyn Lifshin, and Gerald Locklin have written enough poems of this nature to deserve inclusion in such a collection. Maybe the editors could not get permission from the publishers but the absence of these poets suggests that this is still poetry for the elite.

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best examples of modern poetry, October 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Real Things: An Anthology of Popular Culture in American Poetry (Paperback)

This is the perfect book for people who like to read poems about things that we are faced with every day. These are truthful accounts and they speak from the heart of those who are writting their stories. This novel includes poems about Barbie Dolls, pornography, the challenges of being bi-sexual and captures a rather large picture of our American culture. This is an excellent book for any one who likes Popular Culture and for those who do not like to analyze their poetry! Very easy to read and highly entertaining.