Customer Reviews

The Suburban Ecstasies

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've rarely been so profoundly gratified while reading a volume of contemporary poetry. The blurbs, for a change, are spot on. The other reviewers work in a circle toward an unmistakable center. What dazzles me here is not only the command of craft, but also the appreciation of the creation of book-length poem through manipulation of layers of narrative in a wide variety of focal lengths--close up, long shot, two shot, even (Maori?) mythology. One reader says he couldn't put the book down until he read it through, then started again. My experience was reading and re-reading every page in a feast that took two weeks for me to complete. As a poet, I read thousands of poems every year. I consider it my responsibility to read widely, reflectively, critically. The Suburban Ecstasies is the sort of wonderful event I'm looking for.

I think a small boy might like this book. Or a man. Or a woman. Or a girl. This book contains the wisdom of the desert Druids, and the dessert Monks. Secrets passed on and on through the eons and then reconfigured into verse by a future poet laureate. I was going to compare this to the Anatomy of Melancholy, Emperor of the Air, and Angels and Demons, but I see other reviewers of this book already have. That's fine: They found that ground to plow first, and they are fully entitled to it.

I gave this four stars because it's not as good as Listen to the Warm by Rod McKuen. Few poetry books are that good.

MY RATINGS:

5--LISTEN TO THE WARM -- THE classic, as I said.
4--SUBURBAN ECSTASIES & A KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR.
3--The MOLE CYCLE--JOHN BERRYMAN
2--SILENCES BREAK--MAMIE EISENHOWER
1--AARDVARKS AND GUPPIES--Jonathan Franzen

This is only contemporary poetry. If the classics were included, #5 would be HOMER'S ORACLES, then #4 would be LISTEN TO THE WARM. The rest follow in the order given above. Jonathan Franzen's early poetic work drops off the chart, but that's okay, it's not very good.

I've always loved stories that explored the themes of magic realism, mythology, and a taste of bygone cultures. They carried the parchment color of an era over, the hint of mystery.
All of these themes so dear to my sensibilities have been created in this volume of poetry with a flavor so fresh that it left my dizzy. Anyone who looks at the everyday images around them and believes there is something beyond what they see, something deeper perhaps, must pick this book up.

Seth is talented beyond words, creative, sincere and an all around inspriration! Buy the book, you will love it. The Suburban Ecstasies