Poems of loneliness and late nights, liquor and loss.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
It is not surprising that each of Laux's and Addonizio's third collections of poems are being published in close proximity by the same house. In 1997 the pair coauthored The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (Norton); both have published two previous collections with BOA; both use candid and unsentimental personal history as a prime subject matter; and both have stronger work in earlier collections. Many of Addonizio's (Jimmy & Rita) straight-talk poems in Tell Me, dedicated to Laux, depict honest characters who are in the destructive, but often unrevealing, clutches of hard-drinking, doomed relationships, and all manner of problems that subsequently arise. Some of the poems raise the question of what happens when you risk emotional honesty and it doesn't work: in "The Divorcee and Gin," she writes, "God, I love/ what you do to me at night when we're alone,/ how you wait for me to take you into me/ until I'm so confused with you I can't/ stand up anymore." The situations are often compelling, and the performancelike language lends them an air of melodrama that many be intentional, but they don't really rise above the status of well-lineated memoir. The largely domestic and narrative poems of Laux's Smoke shift between internal and external landscapes in a manner that at moments recalls early Richard Hugo: "Somewhere/ a Dumpster is ratcheted open by the claws/ of a black machine. All down the block/ something inside you opens and shuts." Her strongest work here achieves a solid music by using direct address in poems such as "Books" and "The Shipfitter's Wife." Yet the plainspoken approach, aiming at understatement, often specifies too little, letting emotional nuance go unarticulated. While both poets may work in parallel registers, the effect of each is distinct. Unfortunately, many poems in both books do not quite locate the seemingly powerful places that generate the work. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Told in the cracked, smoky voice of someone who has loved and lost a lot and has come out the stronger for it these poems by the author of The Philosopher's Club and Jimmy & Rita crackle with energy yet do not betray the slightest slackening of craft. Addonizio moves from bars to caf?s to one-night stands and back to bars singing a sophisticated version of the blues. She may wonder "who has the time for anything/ but their own pleasures and sorrows," but her work never succumbs to melancholy.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
Kim Addonizio is a fiction writer, poet, and teacher. Her poetry collections include Tell Me, a finalist for the National Book Award, What Is This Thing Called Love, and Lucifer at the Starlite. She lives in Oakland, California.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is a marvelous tonic for those who denigrate the contemporary use of traditional form and storytelling in poems. Old fashioned? Out of date? Read this book and Wake Up! Smart, sassy, funny, sexy, tender and bold, these poems give us the news of a wild, humane world that I, for one, am delighted to wake up living in. In a world of so many poet-phonies, Addonizio is grounded. Her poems are the real deal.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I love all of Kim Addonzios' work and this is another fine example of why.
She writes with a blunt edge and always tells the truth forcing the reader to
take a little closer look at how her words tell their story.
She writes with a blunt edge and always tells the truth forcing the reader to
take a little closer look at how her words tell their story.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By A. Slaff
Format:Paperback
I read this book for an independent study in women's sexuality. This book of poetry has a section titled "Good Girl" in which a number of poems specifically address femininity and female sexuality including What Do Women Want, Good Girl, Physics, and One-Night Stands. Addonizio uses vivid and often stark imagery to depict important female moments, like single motherhood and meaningless sexual encounters. Few other poets deal with issues so central to female identity with as much blunt force as Addonizio does in this book.
Also, on a side note, she is a very kind woman who, when I asked if I could put excerpts from her book onto my independent study blog said that no one should ever have to ask to write about poetry. This is a real book with real emotions about a real woman. It is not always lyrical but it is rich with "woman." I was glad to have read this.
Also, on a side note, she is a very kind woman who, when I asked if I could put excerpts from her book onto my independent study blog said that no one should ever have to ask to write about poetry. This is a real book with real emotions about a real woman. It is not always lyrical but it is rich with "woman." I was glad to have read this.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Addonizio is Solid
Stunning meditations on loss, longing, substance, and sexuality. A must-read for fans of the confessional school. www.stephenandrewpalermo.com
Published on February 28, 2006 by Ponyboy Curtis
3.0 out of 5 stars
Woman walks into a bar
These are what used to be called confessional poems, narrating and meditating on the life of a person who is effectively identical to the author (same job, same family, etc.). Read more
Published on February 20, 2006 by R. H. White
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poems worthy of multiple visits
Some poets write poems that are momentarily enjoyed, then forgotten. Kim Addonizio writes poems that have stickability. Read more
Published on March 7, 2004 by Kay Day
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome
I read this book in my advanced creative writing class at Roger Williams University. We all enjoyed the book so much. Kim came to my school and gave informal talks and a reading. Read more
Published on October 11, 2002 by "nic11283"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kim Addonizio, Poetry Goddess
If I could meet one poet in the world, it would be this poet. I am in love with the way she writes. She is so artful yet edgy! Read more
Published on September 19, 2002
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tell Me by Kim Addonizio
Addonizio's poems speak honestly and openly about issues many people would prefer to avoid. She doesn't mask life's truth in her eloquently written poems. Read more
Published on April 9, 2002 by Drew Fogartie
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful book
Evocative and beautiful, the poems in Tell Me linger long after they're finished. While most are dark and intensely personal, they defy the conceit of so many other poets. Read more
Published on February 1, 2002 by "danspaldingdotcom"
5.0 out of 5 stars
kim's latest collection is as awesome as her first
Tell Me is as wonderful as Philosopher's Club. The poems have a raw, sensuous power to them. They feel confessional without being confessionalist poetry. Read more
Published on June 16, 2001 by adead_poet@hotmail.com
3.0 out of 5 stars
Straightforward, solid poems
Addonizio uses a conversational linguistic strategy. Her work is exceedingly accessible and clear. She uses a personal authority to make broad statements about contemporary life,... Read more
Published on April 4, 2001 by Dale Tegtman
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