You Never Know

Description

Ron Padgett's playful work is all circumstance without the pomp. You Never Know captures the joy and curiosity of a writer whose easy, nonchalant style displays the unfeigned fascination of the forever young. Padgett peers under rocks, skips over fences, and scans the sky to lend a capricious view to puckish poems that breathe with celebration.

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Customer Reviews

delicate and witty poetry by Ron Padgett
The book contains delicate and witty poems. It was also a pleasant surprise to receive my order earlier than expected.

2009-12-23 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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How can ever Padgett book be his best?!
Since the 1960s, Ron Padgett has been writing some of the best, and funniest, and most challenging poetry in the English language. My favourite of his books have been The Tulsa Kid and Toujours L'Amour, but I've loved everything he's written (even the small-press oddity Poems I Guess I Wrote). His direct language, his enthusiasm for goofiness, his smart playfulness -- all this stuff moves me and inspires me.

But with You Never Know, Padgett moves beyond the 10th rung of a 10-rung ladder. He's still nuts, and often hilarious, but this whole mortality thing has got him doing stuff so perfect, so condensed, so magical... geez.

You know, people generally hate poetry. But shove a book like this in their shaking paws and they might have second thoughts.

It's a lovely looking book, too, but it would've looked better mimeographed and stapled down the side with a line drawing by Joe Brainard on the cover.

Yeah! Resoundingly.

2002-10-29 (Toronto, Canada) | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 5

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How can every book be Padgett's best?
Since the 1960s, Ron Padgett has been writing some of the best, and funniest, and most challenging poetry in the English language. My favourite of his books have been The Tulsa Kid and Toujours L'Amour, but I've loved everything he's written (even the small-press oddity Poems I Guess I Wrote). His direct language, his enthusiasm for goofiness, his smart playfulness -- all this stuff moves me and inspires me.

But with You Never Know, Padgett moves beyond the 10th rung of a 10-rung ladder. He's still nuts, and often hilarious, but this whole mortality thing has got him doing stuff so perfect, so condensed, so magical... geez.

You know, people generally hate poetry. But shove a book like this in their shaking paws and they might have second thoughts.

It's a lovely looking book, too, but it would've looked better mimeographed and stapled down the side with a line drawing by Joe Brainard on the cover.

Yeah! Resoundingly.

2002-10-26 (Toronto, Canada) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Hallmarked with a very special wit
The poetry of Ron Padgett is hallmarked with a very special wit and an artfully conversational American approach. You Never Know offers a complete spectrum of his style, which has a penchant for surprise and discovery, all in service to acknowledging the simple magic of everyday life. Poet As Immortal Bird: A second ago my heart thump went/and I thought, "This would be a bad time/to have a heart attack and die, in the/middle of a poem," then took comfort/in the idea that no one I have ever heard/of has ever died in the middle of writing/a poem, just as birds never die in mid-flight./I think.

2002-06-05 (Oregon, WI USA) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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New & Selected Poems

Description

This is the definitive selection of work by one of the wittiest, most inventive poets currently writing. Ron Padgett, author of Great Balls of Fire, Triangles in the Afternoon, and other highly acclaimed books, stands alongside his fellow New York School associates John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler as a major voice of American modernism. His work runs the gamut from popular humor to intellectual elegance to wild richochets of the imagination. The heady circumvolutions of his poems are nevertheless surprising and frequently breathtaking in their ability to blend comedy and pathos in a graceful, mercurial lyricism.

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Customer Reviews

Yankee dada
It is characteristic of Padgett's modesty that this *Selected* is about as long as many of his other books; it is characteristic of his generosity that the volume is so satisfying, seems so capacious despite crossing the wire at well under 120 pp. One reason to buy this book is that so much of Padgett's ouevre has crawled into the world under tiny, independent auspices that can't keep him on the shelves; Godine is an appropriate middle ground -- good at keeping books in print -- but that's no reason to be complacent. Padgett is the ultimate answer-man to people who claim to not like poetry because it's too solemn, not interesting, not concerned with the real world, real issues -- blah, blah, blah. He represents a unique grafting of a European dada sensibility onto the body of a thoroughly American dispenser of crackerbarrel wisdom, weather superstitions, etc. Better than any other poet I know, Padgett manages the trick of being ever-amused, following the crazy synapse-jumps of his sharp but highly distractable attention, without sacrificing any of his capacity to render the pathos of the human condition. He is also the funniest poet currently alive on the planet, one whose irony never stands in the way of direct treatment of the thing or direct expressions of emotion. From "Tone Arm": "You people of the future / How I hate you / You are alive and I'm not / I don't care whether you read my poems or not". It would be their loss; don't let it be yours.

2000-04-06 | Helpful Votes: 10 | Rating: 5

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How to Be Perfect

Product Details

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• Quarters: New
• ISBN13: 9781566892032

Description

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Customer Reviews

How to Write a Perfect Book
Well, it helps to be Ron Padgett to write a perfect book. Only a profound balance can produce such wheeling, such elegant levity, such pithy silliness. The long poems in this various, rich collection are astonishing, their invention never brags about itself, their goofiness is always paralleled with a deep humanity and underthrum of mortality. I think there should be a statue of Ron Padgett as big as the Statue of Liberty um somewhere!

2009-02-05 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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pitch-perfect humor. and contains a warm heart.
This for That

What will I have for breakfast?
I wish I had some plums
like the ones in Williams's poem.
He apologized to his wife
for eating them
but what he did not
do was apologize to those
who would read his poem
and also not be able to eat them.
That is why I like his poem
when I am not hungry.
Right now I do not like him
or his poem. This is just
to say that.

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superb! the great doctor-poet lives!

2008-05-29 | rawr! (NY, NY USA) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 4

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How to be PErfect
If you like good poetry that speaks to all of us, is accessible, and moving, I recommend this book. Poetry is such a gift, it's like a short story in a few lines.

2007-12-21 | poetry lover (Illinois) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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The Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms

Description

In this revised second edition of the popular Handbook, 19 teaching poets have written 76 entries on traditional and modern poetic forms. The Handbook succintly defines the forms, summarizes thier histories, quotes good examples, and offers professional tricks of the trade on how to use each form.

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Customer Reviews

A must buy for writers and teachers of poetry
This is a gem of a book. Any writer or teacher of poetry will revel in the numerous poetic forms this book has to offer. The handbook presents over seventy forms of poetry with helpful explanations and examples. If you are a beginner hoping to learn how to write a poem and don't know where to start, this book will give you a valuable array of delightful choices from the avant-garde to the more traditional structures. It can be used as a reference book or a guide for writing actual poetry. Even professional poets can benefit from this book spawning new creative ideas through the use of more experimental forms. Many valuable examples from famous poems illustrate the various structures, giving a deeper, more thorough understanding of each form. I highly recommend this handbook for both writers and teachers of poetry.

2010-07-23 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Anthrology of Poetic Forms
Contains brief explanations of poetic forms. It's very good at two things. It explains what is unique about the form type and gives details on its rhyming scheme. Other similar books are Rhyme's Reason and How to be Well-Versed.

2010-06-01 | Software Developer (CHI PAR PHX SYD PDX CLD NKC) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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The absolute best book on poetry forms on the market today.

First off, having read and reviewed numerous books on poetry, I have to say this is the best book I have ever read on poetic forms. This text explains the history and how to use each of the 74 basic forms.

Some of these include the abstract poem, the alphabet poem, the ballad, blank verse, blues poems, canto, canzone, chant, cinquain, light verse, quatrain, haiku, sonnet, tanka, renga and numerous other poetic forms.

The entries include examples from the legendary Shakespeare, Woody Guthrie, Edgar Allan Poe, John Milton, Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Basho, John Keats, Dylan Thomas and many other famous poets.

One of the fantastic things about this book is how clear and direct the explanations are of each poetic form. Teachers of poetry will especially love this book.

In conclusion, this is a book for anyone interested in learning the history and basic principles of poetic forms. Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Season of the Warrior: A Poetic Tribute to Warriors, Monadnock Defensive Tactics System, Use of the Monadnock Straight Baton, Martial Art Myths, Pro-Systems Combatives Vol. 1,2, Never Trust a Politician).

2010-03-26 | warriorwriter (Chicago, Il) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Excellent Book!
This book is excellent as a reference guide and text for both teachers and poets. This handbook defines the forms,summarizes their histories,and shows great examples. It is a bible for Formalist poets.

I have used the book for years while teaching my poetry classes. It is much less expensive and has more practical substance than many college texts I've used. The text formant is friendly to the eye and easy to follow. Ron did a great job editing this book.

I highly recommend it.

2009-03-19 | Sharon Palmeri | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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A good teacher/student guide
I found that this is a good guide for teachers of poetry who desire to offer form poetry to students with little exposure to various forms. As one who has researched many forms, I was hoping to find unique forms within this book, which was not the case. It is a good foundational book for students and teachers, but for poets familiar with the more common forms and seeking to expand into new areas of poetic form, it is probably not the best of guides, which is why I have rated it a little lower.

2008-10-19 | Larry (Kansas) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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Great Balls of Fire

Description

It's impossible to characterize Ron Padgett's poems except to say that there's never a dull moment. His versatility in this collection is stunning, what Kirkus Reviews calls "a sustained virtuoso performance, a staggering display of poetic forms and voices, a literary arsenal. " His sense of humor and experimental daring make this an excellent choice for both collectors and readers who want a taste of something different, yet intelligent and often just plain fun. I can vouch that intense discussions have centered on some of these poems, such as the sonnet with a single repeating line, or the staged prose poem that depicts "true " love as the ironic paradox it is.

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Customer Reviews

A pleasure.
An excellent collection of poetry that will not bore. Of special interest to those with a knowledge of France and its literature.

1997-11-18 (Charlotte, NC) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Creative Reading: What It Is, How to Do It, and Why

Description

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Customer Reviews

Reading instruction meets New York School Poetry
This book is likely to end up in University Libraries next to books on "how to teach Johnny to read," but it is a highly eclectic and imaginative primer on creative reading, influenced by Padgett's New York school poetry pals and French movements like Oulipo. This book is aimed, in the first instance, at teachers, but I think it makes enjoyable reading for just about anyone interested in "creative reading."

1999-04-01 (Lawrence, KS USA) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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