You Drive Me Crazy: Love Poems for Real Life [Paperback]

Mary D. Esselman (Author), Elizabeth Ash Vélez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2005

From the editors of the successful anthologies "The Hell With Love" and "Kiss Off" comes a third collection of poetry celebrating commitment, passion, and everlasting love. Two-color text.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Editors Esselman and Velez showcase the phases of love, a subject that has long inspired, redeemed, frustrated, and obsessed us. Readers will be delighted to encounter classic poems by Shakespeare and Donne as well as down-to-earth works by today's talented poets, including Dorianne Laux and Mark Doty. Divided into sections such as "ecstasy," "stability," and "misery," each grouping of poems is introduced by clever editorial commentary that never takes itself too seriously. Timid poetry readers should feel comfortable here, discovering poems that not only relate to what the average person experiences in love but that are expressed in accessible, lively language. Such readers may even use this collection as a springboard for further poetic investigation. You Drive Me Crazy will inevitably have wide appeal because it reminds us that we are all "in the same boat" when it comes to love, and that poets have always been entranced by the subject of love and devoted to seeking new and wonderful ways to earnestly convey their experiences. Janet St. John
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"An extraordinary collection....This book is girl-talk at its best, a rollicking, comforting combination of insight and laughter."

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446692727
• ISBN-13: 978-0446692724
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #442,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ebb and flow of love..., February 20, 2007

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Drive Me Crazy: Love Poems for Real Life (Paperback)

Love Poems for Real Life seems to have been created for couples in a long-term relationship. The poems are arranged according to how the authors see love's initial passion and then how this ebbs and flows over time.

At first the poems radiate an intimacy that contrasts sharply with a desire for distance later in the book. The lovers express such sweet concepts as in E.E. Cummings "I carry your heart with me."

Later, Dorothy Parker displays her sardonic wit in the last line of a love poem - that feels more like elation and frustration. It seems she is depressed at the time and nothing is bringing her joy, so she writes of the sweetness and then throws in a line or two about how she wishes she had never met her lover who seems to live with sunny skies. After reading about her life, we know there were some storms, but was anyone listening?

I loved Al Zolynas' "The Zen of Housework." It is brilliant in the way it presents visual images for contemplation. Anna Akhmatova's "I Wrung My Hands Under My Dark Veil" is also stunning in beauty and emotional implication. Carolyn Creedon's poem shows great sarcasm and Sylvia Plath takes the cake for misery:

"The moon, too, abases her subjects,
but in the daytime she is ridiculous.
Your dissatisfactions, on the other hand,
Arrive through the mailslot with loving regularity,
White and blank, expansive as carbon monoxide.

No day is safe from news of you,
Walking about in Africa maybe, but thinking of me."

Margaret Atwood's poem "Habitation" seems to define this book as it explores the idea that in love, we are always at the point of "learning to make fire." The passion of the initial poems mellows into a nourishing comfort.

Mary D. Esselman and Elizabeth Ash Velez are careful observers of popular culture and of the daily lives of the seemingly typical love relationship in modern society. In their introductions to each chapter, they explore the ideas of Ecstasy, Stability, Monotony, Uncertainty, Misery and Clarity. Their commentary on the poems makes for interesting reading and makes the book feel more personal and ultimately more emotionally fulfilling. Most of the poems in this collection were new to me, so that was a delicious surprise.

~The Rebecca Review

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining poetry collection, January 17, 2007

By 

K. "daisy4given" (Northern Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Drive Me Crazy: Love Poems for Real Life (Paperback)

"You Drive Me Crazy" has a broad variety of poems from various time periods, styles, and themes, all revolving around the central theme of "real-life love". The introductory notes at the beginning of each section help to set the mood and even explain the poems, which I found very helpful.
My only complaint about this book is that the collection was perhaps TOO varied. There were several chapters that i felt were not suitable for this book, but rather for one of their other books on lamenting about love. I purchased this book in the hopes of getting some inspiration for writing a quirky but romantic "real life love" poem, and really only found the first section useful. However, overall it IS an entertaining book filled with some great works, so unless you want this book for the same reason that I did, I highly recommend it!

Grade: B

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delightful, August 4, 2005

By 

Baby B (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: You Drive Me Crazy: Love Poems for Real Life (Paperback)

I stumbled upon this book at the library was quite pleasantly surprised. The poem selections are clever and inspiring. Each chapter introduction is subtle, straighforward, and insightful. This little book manages to be "poetic therapy." I enjoyed it so much that I plan to add it to my personal library.