toniclark's review against another edition

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5.0

Not a quick or an easy read. Not a craft book — more of an anti-craft book. I've gotten lost more than once. Another reviewer said dense, passionate, and reckless. I concur. It's a book to go back to again and again, is maybe best taken in small doses. Read a little. Think. Then maybe, think again.

It's a lot about opening up, disrupting expectations, being a little crazy, goofy, unruly. It's about accessing the primitive, the primary ground. In Young's words, "Let us get better at not knowing what we’re doing."

This book is so packed full, I can't do it justice. Almost every sentence is something you want to stop and reread.

"I believe in the divinity of profligacy," he says.

"Poets are excellent students of blizzards and salt and broken statuary, but they are always somewhere else for the test."

Good advice to the Poetry Elite (I won't name names): "Poetry can’t be harmed by people trying to write it!"

"The emphasis on craft, on a series of procedures and techniques, is too much like the creation of perfectly safe nuclear reactors without acknowledging the necessity of radioactive matter for the core."

"When art strives for the decorums of craft, it withers to table manners during a famine."


breadandmushrooms's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

composed's review against another edition

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3.0

My favorite part of this was the overall vocabulary; a few words sent me in the right direction with a poem I felt stuck on. Even though the book was fairly short, it felt long and I wish it had been more edited. The stream-of-consciousness at times felt more performative than interesting.

Something I thought multiple times was that some of the prose could benefit from formatting. If not poetry, at least some bullets now and again. And honestly I think the ideal format for this material would be digital, where you click on the part that strikes you and it zooms you over to another related section. I hate Prezi, but that's the visual I had in mind.

robinbsmith's review against another edition

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5.0

Stunningly brilliant, both as a work of art and as a teaching tool.

Part exemplary guide, part philosophical treatise, pure powerful poetry: he fully illustrates the assertive force that writing is capable of.

This is a book I will never part with and will read again and again.

The whole series is stellar, truly out-of-this-world good.

Can I praise it more??

schley's review against another edition

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funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

rainyreadss's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

sailert's review against another edition

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4.0

This is one crazy poetics/criticism book.
Young lost me a few times, but it was still a lot of fun to read. I underlined quite a bit. I loved the discussion on Hamlet. If you're really, really into poetry, I'd pick this up. It's not very long, but it's kind of all over the place. It's dense, it's certainly passionate and reckless (for lack of a better word).

sshabein's review against another edition

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4.0

Definitely not light reading, so this took me a little while to read, as I mainly read before bed and was sometimes too tired to do more than a few pages (this is not the book's fault, of course). Lots of good stuff to consider, write down. Made me want to read more of his poetry.

wtfisapoet's review

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A wonderful book about unfinishing the unfinished, maybe?

publiqfriend's review

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2.0

had to read for mfa class. like, nah bro dont bother.
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