|
| The Importance of Peeling Potatoes in Ukraine (Poets, Penguin) | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Yakich
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
Buy New: $3.94
You Save: $14.06 (78%)
New (36) Used (17) Collectible (1) from $0.59
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 763562
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.4
ISBN: 014311333X
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.6
EAN: 9780143113331
ASIN: 014311333X
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New copy with pen line (remainder mark) on bottom page block.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
An unconventional new collection from a National Poetry Series award winner
Mark Yakich s acclaimed debut collection, Unrelated Individuals Forming a Group Waiting to Cross, examined the blessing and curse of romantic love in its multiplicities. The poems in his new collection approach questions of suffering and atrocity (e.g., war, genocide, fallen soufflés) with discerning humor and unconventional comedy. These poems show how humor can be taken as seriously as straight-ahead solemnity and how we can re-envision solemnity in terms other than lamentation, protest, and memorial.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 A fresh and distinctive voice April 13, 2008
Mark Yakich has one of the very best websites among modern poets -- drawings, photos, examples of his work. This example comes from "Peeling Potatoes" and also appears on his website:
PRETZELS COME TO AMERICA
Legend has it that Houdini, the son of a rabbi, picked his first lock
Because he wanted a piece of boysenberry pie his mother was keeping
Dead-bolted in the pantry. A busted closet means trouble. Doesn't it
Seem that as soon as you get one thing fixed in the house something else
Falls apart? Say, I might as well punish myself for Mommy's cancer,
Because who else is there at the foot of the bed to discomfit. Bedrooms
Really are nice in all-white. Sheets, curtains, lamps, laser-white metal.
The most important place for a favorite painting is opposite the bed:
The last impression you see at night, the first when you rise. Upstairs
The house has an expiration date, just as Henry James did. Poor Henry
Was criticized for not liking dumb people. He avoided women especially
Because one lady had fallen in love with him and then committed suicide.
They say that before Henry died he thought he was Napoleon. And it
Turned out that he did know a lot about Napoleon, just not the right sorts
Of things that made dying easier. Houdini, James, Napoleon. Neither
Houdini nor James liked to be called by their first names. But Napoleon
Loved his first name so much he destroyed many lives in order to
Keep it popular. Three great men, three great holes. Like in the pretzel.
Medieval monks gave pretzels to children who had memorized their Bible
Verses and prayers. To reinforce a lesson: the three holes in the pretzel
Represent the Christian trinity. Today there are 28 different kinds of
Pretzels in the world and that number continues, in fits and starts, to grow.
***
I've been following his work for the past three years, ever since I read his letter in "Poetry". His definition of "poetry" resonates with me:
"Experience is a wonderful thing. But the experience of a poem and the experience of "lived life" are not the same wonderful thing. Writing poems should not be thought of as a process of translation, if only because that idea leads too many readers to wonder, "Those were some pretty words about [love, mother, porcupines, etc.], but what really was the experience [antecedent, story] behind the poem?" The experience of a poem is to make the reader experience both language and life, but mostly language!"
As a general reader, I find it almost impossible to review poetry. The language sings to me in this poem -- I've recited it aloud several times, and recorded it on my small tape recorder and played it back. Beyond the words, the rhythm appeals to me. I wonder if the breaks in the sentences represent the holes in pretzels? The "fits and starts" in the last line may confirm that.
I hope my analysis doesn't discourage readers from enjoying his work as much as I do.
Robert C. Ross, 2008
 Pretty Good for a Penguin Non Classic March 25, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RH5XTK36I85S7 A veritable carnival of "good" "poetry." I don't know what Ukraine is however.
|
|
|
VicenzaWebMarketing.com | |
|
