Review by Booklist Review
Ashbery will turn 80 this year, at the head of a pageant of scintillating poetry collections. With a book every two years or so, this master of imagistic invention, compassionate wit, and linguistic magic expresses undiminished joie de vivre in the face of all that tests our senses of rightness and humor. Nonchalant yet intense, surreal and exacting, bemused yet full of longing, Ashbery is a romantic and a skeptic, a stoic and a dreamer. In this brimming volume's piquant title poem, the conversational yet subtle poet traces the perpetual pendulum swing from chaos to calm, war to peace that measures human existence. Poem by poem, Ashbery's attunement to time's passing sharpens, as does his query, Has one used time wisely? Ashbery quarrels jauntily with how things stand, with what people do and do not pay attention to. Ashbery's syncopated lyrics are sheer pleasure in their music, collaged images, stabbing perceptions. Mysterious and truth-bearing poems that inspire us to flame on, flame on. --Donna Seaman Copyright 2007 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
If Ashbery's last several books have tended to sound the same, it could be because they indicate a restlessness to express something that won't quite come out, "a murky, milky precipitate/ of certain years." In the 58 lyrics of his 26th book of poems, Ashbery (Where Shall I Wander, 2005) shows his complete mastery of his late idiom: associative leaps ("Everything has a silver lining; it's a matter/ of turning it over and scrubbing some sense into it"), flippant philosophical statements ("Much will be forgiven those/ on whom nothing has dawned") and chatty quips ("I say, would you mind if I light up in bars?"). Surprises include the cleverly rhymed title poem and a lovely metaphysical piece called "Litanies": "It is important to be laid out/ in a man-made shape. Others will try/ to offer you something-on no account/ accept it." There is no trademark long poem, but many of these short pieces forebodingly acknowledge that "the dark/ wants, needs us." While the mood elsewhere in this book often seems light, these poems are more about the failure of, or provisional failure of, lightness. Still inimitably questioning, Ashbery continues to inhabit a worldly country all his own. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
The poems in Ashbery's latest collection are able to entertain-a word rarely used these days to describe contemporary American poetry. Plenty of stand-up comedians, political columnists, and professional linguists write prose broken into lines, but Ashbery gives us wit, empathy, and compassion embodied in playful language. He is often critical of our times, yet his criticism has a touch of the surreal: "Our representative will be contacting you,/ but meanwhile it is important not to move/ or in any way betray your whereabouts to the listening/ enemy. His sense of place is long,/ but not endless. Mirage control has sealed the borders/ with light and the endless diffidence light begets." Ashbery turns 80 this year, and these are the poems of old age. No, let me correct myself: these are the poems of the pleasures of old age, and Ashbery is able to give pleasure even in poems of heartbreak: "it will all be over in a minute, you said. We both/ Believed that, and the clock's ticking: Flame on, flame on." While these poems often struggle with questions of passing, Ashbery manages to make the struggle gracious and gentle. He certainly remains one of American's most exhilarating lyric poets. Highly recommended.-Ilya Kaminsky, San Diego State Univ., CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
