Vanitas Motel [Paperback]

Jon Loomis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1998

Things happen in Vanitas Motel: a funeral, a fistfight, an outburst at a poetry reading. Its poems are surreal parables, at once funny and dark, sensual and deeply serious. Their revealed subjects are loss, art, illness, and desire. Vanitas Motel is the first collection by Jon Loomis, and the winner of the 1997 FIELD Poetry Prize.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Few pleasures are more exhilarating than discovering a poet whose work passes Emily Dickinson's test for authentic writing: it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. This is the case with Jon Loomis's Vanitas Motel. Loomis combines a talent for the pithy pronouncement with an advanced, individual sense of rhythm. What makes this book special, however, is how the poems accrue and accumulate. They add up. This is because Loomis has something to say about the life we all live, and he's found a way to say it that deserves attention and praise" --Virginia Quarterly Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 68 pages
• Publisher: Oberlin College Press (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932440819
• ISBN-13: 978-0932440815
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,688,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jon Loomis is the author of two critically acclaimed mystery novels set in Provincetown, Massachusetts (HIGH SEASON, 2007, and MATING SEASON, 2009, both from St. Martin's/Minotaur). He is also the author of two books of poetry, THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE (Oberlin College Press/FIELD Editions, 2001) and VANITAS MOTEL (Oberlin College Press, 1998), which won the 1997 FIELD prize for poetry. Loomis has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including two Writing Fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and the Halls Fellowship in poetry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He teaches English and creative writing in west-central Wisconsin, where he lives with his wife and family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Precise beauty, amazing language, May 22, 2001

By 

"akjdfls" (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vanitas Motel (Paperback)

The poems in Jon Loomis's Vanitas Motel are stark appraisals of loss, joy, mortality, and passion etched in simple, beautiful language. Touching, humorous, breathtaking.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Insightful, Moving Collection, April 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Vanitas Motel (Paperback)

According to David Young, editor of the Field Poetry Series (Oberlin College Press), the poems in Vanitas Motel are "clean and clear-eyed, remarkably distilled, often ferociously understated or matter-of-fact about pain or loss. They dart quickly, shading through tenderness and hilarity, aching with wit and exhilerating insights." The Virginia Quarterly Review said: "Few pleasures are more exhilerating than discovering a poet whose work passes Emily Dickinson's test for authentic writing: it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. This is the cas with Jon Loomis's 'Vanitas Motel.'" They're both right--the poems in "Vanitas Motel" are accessible and intelligent, serious and seriously funny all in one breath. With this shimmering debut, Loomis has established himself as one of America's finest younger poets.