Synopses & Reviews
Heir to the democratic and poetic sensibilities of Walt Whitman and Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bernstein has always crafted verse that responds to its historical moment, but no previous collection of his poems so specifically addresses the events of its time as
Girly Man, which
features works written on the evening of September 11, 2001, and in response to the war in Iraq. Here, Bernstein speaks out, combining self-deprecating humor with incisive philosophical and political thinking.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Composed of works of very different forms and moodsand#8212;etchings from moments of acute crisis, comic excursions, formal excavations, confrontations with the cultural illogics of contemporary political consciousnessand#8212;the poems work as an ensemble, each part contributing something necessary to an unrealizable and unrepresentable whole.and#160;and#160;
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;A passionate defense of contingency, resistance, and multiplicity, Girly Man is a provocative and aesthetically challenging collection of radical verse from one of Americaand#8217;s most controversial poets.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#8220;A major achievement. . . . Anyone interested in contemporary poetry should seek out the collection, if only to read one of our most provocative poet-critics writing his most engaging poems to date.and#8221;and#8212;Thomas Devaney, PhiladelphiaInquirerand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; and#8220;Charles Bernstein writes both prose and poetry about poetry, sometimes brilliantly, in ways calculated to upset the middlebrow and thwart the bland. The more you like the poetic equivalent of a nice tune, easy to hum, the more Bernstein means to disrupt your complacency.and#8221;and#8212;Robert Pinsky, Washington Post
About the Author
Charles Bernstein lives in New York and is the Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as coeditor of and#160;L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, the Electronic Poetry Center, and PennSound and cofounder of the SUNY-Buffalo Poetics Program. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among his many publications are three books also published by the University of Chicago Press: Girly Man, With Strings, and My Way: Speeches and Poems.
Table of Contents
Letand#8217;s Just Say
In Particular
Thank You for Saying Thank You
Letand#8217;s Just Say
and#8220;every lake . . .and#8221;
Some of These Daze
Itand#8217;s 8:23 in New York
Today is the next day of the rest of your life
Aftershock
Report from Liberty Street
Letter from New York
World on Fire
Didnand#8217;t We
The Folks Who Live on the Hill
One More for the Road
In a Restless World Like This Is
Ghost of a Chance
Choo Choo Chand#8217;Boogie
Stranger in Paradise
Broken English
Lost in Drowned Bliss
Sunset at Quaquaversal Point
A Flame in Your Heart
Warrant
Warrant
Fantasy on Nightmare on Elm Street Theme
and#8220;Cum ipse . . .and#8221;
Heand#8217;s So Heavy, Heand#8217;s My Sokal
Why I Donand#8217;t Meditate
Questionnaire
Language, Truth, and Logic
from Canti Antichi
Slap Me Five, Cleo, Markand#8217;s History
In Parts
Reading Red
Pomegranates
In Parts
122
Photo Opportunity
Likeness
Castor Oil
Shenandoah
Jacobsand#8217;s Ladder
Donand#8217;t Get Me Wrong
Interim Standoff
Should We Let Patients Write Down Their Own Dreams?
Bridges Freeze Before Roads
Pocket in the Hole
Evening Sail with Prawns
Secrets of a Clear Hand
Rain Is Local
Set Free (Knot)
If You Lived Here Youand#8217;d Be Home Now
The Warble of the Ammonia-Bellied Barkeep
and#8220;And if then . . .and#8221;
Comforting Thoughts
Further Color Notes
Likeness
Girly Man
War Stories
Thereand#8217;s Beauty in the Sound of the Rushing Brook as It Forks and Bends in the Moonlight
Sign Under Test
A Poem Is Not a Weapon
Emmaand#8217;s Nursery Rimes
Wherever Angels Go
Death Fugue (Echo)
The Beauty of Useless Things: A Kantian Tale
Self-Help
The Bricklayerand#8217;s Arms
The Ballad of the Girly Man
Notes and Acknowledgments