She Didn't Mean To Do It (Pitt Poetry Series) [Paperback]

Daisy Fried (Author)

Book Description

Series: Pitt Poetry Series | Publication Date: November 22, 2000

Winner of the 1999 Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize

The thirty-three narrative, linguistically-adventurous poems in She Didn't Mean to Do It range freely among styles and voices. Examining human emotions and behavior in all their contradictions, Daisy Fried turns a perceptive eye on those around her. Fried integrates metaphoric flights and idiosyncratic narrative, surprising us with the details--"I saw the that wisteria/ in dusk its same color hung (heavier than /the breasts of stabbed and stabber ever would be)"--while her characters traipse across lines and pages. These are poems about human relationships, mostly romantic and sexual. They're also about jobs and work: urban, action-packed and socially aware.

Starrett Poetry Prize winners are published as part of the Pitt Poetry Series, which was founded in 1968 by the University of Pittsburgh Press to publish the best in contemporary American poetry. Since 1978 Ed Ochester has edited the series, and he serves as final judge of the Starrett competition.In 1990 American Bookseller pronounced the Pitt Poetry Series the first among five "outstanding" university press series in the field of poetry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Daisy Fried's everyday toughness of subject matter makes her all the more aware of tenderness, hence her delight in ‘the beauty of boys on skateboards,’ with their clean necks, and her feeling for both stabbed and stabber in her poem about the carnival. Maybe this is the book of the year, it has such range and it is so well-written, for her faithfulness to her emotion is matched by her carefulness of execution.”
--Thom Gunn

“Daisy Fried is a very talented, very serious, but also a very playful, young poet who deserves a wide audience. Her poems have two things—story and song—that are rare in poetry today, even among far more experienced poets. Though her voice doesn't sound like anyone else's, it has a subtle affinity with the jazzy, cool, humorous tones of writers like August Kleinzahler and Dean Young. Fried is a pleasure to read, but the pleasure is often mixed with something bitter, or salty, or hard, and that's what makes her so good.”
—Wendy Lesser 

From the Publisher

Fried is a very talented, very serious, but also a very playful, young poet who deserves a wide audience. Her poems have two thingsstory and songthat are rare in poetry today, even among far more experienced poets. Though her voice doesn't sound like anyone else's, it has a subtle affinity with the jazzy, cool, humorous tones of writers like August Kleinzahler and Dean Young. Fried is a pleasure to read, but the pleasure is often mixed with something bitter, or salty, or hard, and that's what makes her so good. (Wendy Lesser)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press; 1 edition (November 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822957388
• ISBN-13: 978-0822957386
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #228,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Gaudiness, August 18, 2001

By 

David Graham "The author" (Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: She Didn't Mean To Do It (Pitt Poetry Series) (Paperback)

Continual surprise is this book's best gift: line to line and page to page, you never know what Daisy Fried might say, or where her hungry imagination might veer next. Musically, the poems are jazzy and thickly textured free verse. Thematically, there's nothing unduly cautious here, no tiresome solemnity: here is "the essential gaudiness of poetry," in Wallace Stevens's words. Fried is eminently readable and frequently delightful in both thought and tune.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh as a Daisy, April 3, 2001

By 

"katejohns" (Azalea Garden (The Thames)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: She Didn't Mean To Do It (Pitt Poetry Series) (Paperback)

This book is full of attitude, negative, positive, indifferent. There is a self-delighting energy, sometimes comic, sometimes trenchant, and a lot of eye-catching first lines: "I never was much good at blow jobs," "Oh she was sad oh she was sad." These and others clearly indicate the femininity of the poetry. It is a feminism that is full of erotic pleasure and (I suspect) unthreatening to men, who are bound to respond affirmatively to the sass (I know because I tried out a few of the poems on my boyfriend). An altogether impressive debut.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fried's macho poems enchant and vervify, December 15, 2002

By 

Terri Ford (Cincinnati, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: She Didn't Mean To Do It (Pitt Poetry Series) (Paperback)

With all due respect, are these other reviewers clouded by hormones, fashionably scornful, or just full of popsicles? Come ON! Daisy Fried is one of the most original voices to hit the planet. Who does she sound like? Nobody! She is the champ of anti-chick poems, writing unsentimentally about what girls care about; she is the original combo plate, truly funny and truly feeling at once. The sound of her work is rhythmic, musical; she's got the beat of real life underneath it all. She SEES and her writing shows it. The woman's got nerve and verve to spare. I could eat for these poems for days and find something new in them to love. I look forward to more from this fresh in every sense writer.