Poetry Readers Challenge discussion

Sarah reviewed this recently and her review made me curious enough to put it on my amazon wishlist. My brother bought it for me and our low key family gathering gave me time to read it. Here are my thoughts:

This 100 page book is a fast and largely entertaining read. It's fast partly because many of the poems are short and they rarely reach for any sort of depth. I would call Randall more of a "to watch" poet rather than one presently in full form. I like when she sees the surreal and the absurd in the everyday. I've been wondering when more of the realities of contemporary life would work their way into the topics and language of poetry. It has certainly arrived with Jessy Randall, who mentions velcro, Googling, remotes, McDonalds, Pac-Man, the Muppets, Yoda, and a three-hole punch. I felt that she lived in my world as opposed to some highly abstract, learned, privileged one that some poetry seems to come from or perpetually refer to and/or take refuge in. Parents of young children will especially enjoy her poems about life with toddlers.

I gave this volume 3 stars because too many of the poems fell flat for me to rate it higher. But I'm keeping this book on my shelf as an example of humor and the commonplace in poetry. I've also become on of Randall's "fans" here on goodreads because I'm curious to see how she develops, particularly whether she'll delve more deeply both with surrealism and content, and also to see what she will turn her sense of humor to next. I expect motherhood will provide plenty of opportunities for more poems that are simply fun.

Glad to see your review, Jen! I think Jessy Randall is not only funny but also well tuned in to language and sensitive to important issues/topics, like motherhood and experience. I think the humor often masks that. For anyone who's interested, here's a review that picks apart some individual poems: http://www.californiapoetics.org/revi...

One of my favorite poems of hers is "Forgetting Simon Perchik." Simon Perchik is a widely published poet, and in the poem I love Randall's turns of phrase and the lament about the poet. It's here: http://www.coconutpoetry.org/randall1...

Happy new year all!

At the "Simon Perchik" link, I also loved "Don't Be Mad." Are these poems in another volume or as yet uncollected? As for the "Perchik" poem itself (and I do know of whom she speaks), I wonder if that is her ars poetica? Got a chuckle out of that one too.

I agree that anyone interested certainly should read the link at californiapoetics.org Sarah provides above.