James Tate Books

"...poetry speaks against an essential backdrop of silence. It is almost reluctant to speak at all, knowing that it can never fully name what is at the heart of its intentions. There is a prayerful, haunted silence between words, between phrases, between images, ideas and lines." ~ pg. 19

Used books hold within their pages additional mysteries and this one was no exception. Also, when the first poem in a book makes you cry, it is almost guaranteed you will be finding additional poems to love. "That Cold Summer" by Nin Andrews is so startling in imaginative beauty and many of the poems seem to flow together with a similar idea.

"Often as children, my friend and I used to pretend we had wings. Attaching towels to our backs with safety pins, we'd leap from sofas and chairs, thudding ungracefully on the floor ...But what is it these angels represent to us if no the ability to lift off the planet, to escape the pull of gravity? And this, I think, is one of the reasons I write." ~ Nin Andrews

The Butterfly Effect by Harry Humes presents ideas to ponder as does Karen Volkman's "Infernal" where she writes:

"The revenant sprawls by the pool
assessing opulent stucco and glossy indigo."

I love the way the poem ends:

"I stay close to the water,
you stay close to the shore."

I thought it was rather intriguing that when I had just read The Best American Poetry book edited by A.R. Ammons, that I should open this book and find a "Worldwide Travel Specialist's" business card right at his poem: "From Strip." While I wouldn't mind a vacation to New Zealand, I do find many of the poetry books by David Lehman to be journeys into many minds and enjoyable escapes into poetry.

"she was, like a piece of the sky looking at herself.
She watched him like a deer caught in the headlights, staring

until he touched her shoulder, and he shuddered.
Colder than snow, she was. Donald said that's why

he invited her in to warm herself. She had a long
wind inside her than fanned the flames a brilliant blue."

~ from Nin Andrew's "That Cold Summer"

~The Rebecca Review

This anthology represents the current standard aspiring writers must live up to. I look to this collection for a vivisection of the poetry "mood" prevelant in the past year. It is encouraging to find such a diversity of writers between the covers of one book. I especially applaud the inclusion of "new" writers such as Bob Hicok. He has been a local favorite in southeastern Michigan for the past couple of years, and I am delighted to see him receiving national attention. I highly recommend this volume of poetry.

Leave it to James Tate. The poems in this collection are witty, profound, whimsical, and memorable. There isn't one I wouldn't finish reading if I came across it in its original source.

Unlike some of the unpolished PC rants in Rich's collection, these are poems that truly matter because they reflect on what Faulkner called "the verities of the human heart." Unlike some of the fatally over-ambitious poems in Hollander's collection, these poems are less than epic length but more than haiku -- just right.

I'm mostly a library reader, but this is the one I might actually buy.

I have been reading this series since 1993 and I feel that this is one of the strongest ones in the series. Some good choices from the better known poets, and wonderful poems by poets I was unfamiliar with, including Thomas Sayers Ellis (whose "Atomic Bride" is sure to become a classic). Though the book may drift a little towards the middle in terms of taste, Tate does a good job of mixing different aesthetics into this volume. Also, I think Tate's introduction is the most memorable I've read from the series.

i have read and enjoyed other collections by tate but this one has been the most enjoyable to me. tate's language isn't as convoluted and heavy-handed as many contemporary poets, and he manages to balance light, easily-readable language with craft and mastery. this is one of my favorite books of poetry because this balance allows for academic acceptance while maintaining reader access-points that i think would let any person enjoy reading this book.

I was drawn to this having read Tate's "Worshipful Company of Fletchers" and his "Selected Poems". The former I loved, but the later felt more subdued. Here in "The Memoir of the Hawk" we have another set of poems which truly give the reader joy. I found myself rereading nearly every poem to enjoy the images and unexpected events. I laughed out loud at many of these poems, good solid laughter from the strangeness of the world of the poem and at times from straight comedy.

Not a book for those more aligned to SERIOUS and/or FORMAL poetry. The best comparison I can make is that much of Tate's ideas and images are like the best of "They Might Be Giants" (the band)...lyrical, musical, absurd and at the same time compelling.

I'm a not usually a big poetry guy, but this collection of poems enthralled me. So fresh. So unique. For once I agree that a work should have won the Pulitzer, as this one did. Tate combines his fresh images together into poems that surprise you, shock you, inspire you, and ultimately keep you flipping the pages. They're great to be read aloud. Few, if any, rhymes and metered sections, his poems tell short, imagistic tales of proverbial wisdom.

Why do the doves fly out of the priests eyes?
Is the old woman really going to bite your fingers?
Are the toads actually talking?
Why would a mother and son pretend they are Adam and Eve?
Why did they name their flower shop Murder, Inc.?

If you're looking for Walt Whitman, go somewhere else, but if you're in the mood for a more comical William Carlos Williams, a more formal E.E. Cummings, a cleaner Bukowski, then James Tate just might be your guy.

-- Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

I had the idea to write an impassioned defense of this book, but it is too hot, I don't have the energy. And really, it was the wrong idea anyways -- this book doesn't need an impassioned, intellectual defense.

It is a little too long. There are poems in it that are weak and that stand out against the others. But there are poems in this book that are heartbreaking, astonishing, and beautiful. James Tate can still move through a poem nimbly, artfully, and darkly in a way that no one else can. I began reading this book tainted by my contemporaries' cynicism, and the poems rocketed up through the dense cloud of all that and shone brightly.

Not all of them. Of course.

But James Tate, for all his occasional doddering steps, continues to take great leaps across the landscape of the imagination and the world.

this book is a fantastic bargain. it's a lesson in how creative a mind can be when able to free associate, but it still shows the craft of a master poet. tate doesn't strain to be weird or resort to gimmicks, he just tells his funny little stories in poetic form and they always go to surprising places. i love his book.

Yes, the James Tate poems are up to something. As unique a collection of poems as you will find anywhere. In this book are poems that usurp America.

I had the pleasure of hearing James Tate read some of these poems at a writers' conference and was able to get an autograohed copy of this delightful book. The poems, some of which read like short stories, are multi-layered and you'll want to read them many times.

James Tate does it, ie does it and does it. James Tate is up to something.

I like this book for a little girl...to be read or read a story about a manatee that is a girl. Great book to get a little girl who lives outside of Florida. The child learns about the manatee as well as being very entertained.

I received this book as a souvenier from my sister when she went to Florida. I was in 2nd grade and so excited to have a book about manatees. It's very sweet. The pictures are bright and cute, and take up the whole page; perfect for children. And the story teaches a good lesson: Humans are making the ocean a dangerous place for sea animals. The ocean belongs to them, and we need to be more careful with our technology, otherwise there won't be any sea creatures left at all. This is a wonderful book, great for any animal-loving child!

This is a GREAT book. It has big, bright beautiful color drawings that capture your childs attention. Plus, it teaches your child about an important mammal and the hazards from humans they face. My daughter loved this book and so did I!

The Stranger in Goldrush: A Tana James Mystery

A well crafted story that will keep you glued to the pages. The suspense builds and the clues appear but can you guess the ending, I didn't. A great read let's see what Tana James does in the next book.

The story line is great and character developement done so well that you feel that you know each and every one! Looking forward to more from this first time author, her ability to write is TRULY a 'gift'.

For a first time author this book is wonderful. A little bit of something going on with every character keeps you guessing who did it. And when you find out at the end...the twist will have you saying "I didn't see that coming". I hope we see more from Sheila Bush and Tana James.

In James Tate's post-Pulitzer volume, "Worshipful Company of Fletchers," he presents a collection of lyric poetry that offers a constant sense of movement, as though he is guiding readers on a series of speculative journeys with the promise that we could wind up...anywhere. Reading Tate requires trust - trust that his "auto-suggestive" flow of language and ideas will result in a payoff - and it does...there is a payoff of discovery within these pages, his poems. In "Porch Theory," for example, he provides the familiar image of a porch, yet in this fairly short poem, we discover that the porch represents several generations of a family. Like his other works, this piece boasts an effective flow. There are wonderfully warm images of ghost stories, rainy nights, children sleeping, the physical sagging of the porch itself, dinner parties, a sleeping uncle, a playful pet and cocktails being served. Importantly, Tate repeats the visual of wicker across the stories of each generation, tying it with the actions of his characters on the porch: "More children / climb on the wicker couch, and grandmother / stares at the croquet set / in the corner, remembering the parrot / her grandfather brought back from the Pacific." This is important because we realize the wicker is permanent, yet the porch's inhabitants are not. We come to understand that Tate's "Porch Theory" is symbolic of life and death, but that he is celebrating the sense of immortality achieved with the arrival of new generations. This becomes evident midway through the poem with the lines, "The willow itself is finally dying...`Look at those clouds,' / someone says. `The face of God is in there, somewhere.'" Regardless of an individual reader's spirituality, Tate's intention is clear. This is a poem of hope, and it carries the sense of movement and speculative journey that ties it with other poems throughout the book. While "Porch Theory" takes place in the setting of one family's porch, it achieves the promise that we could indeed wind up anywhere because so much occurs within - from its ghost stories to its cocktails and, ultimately, in the memories of the grandmother. Through her, we don't "wind up" on the porch at all, but with the visual of a parrot in transit from the Pacific. This is the payoff. It is why we trust a poet with Tate's intuition and talent, and it is as rewarding as an afternoon of daydreaming on the porch.

This book is the key to the closet, where we keep everything that we never use and rarely want. Tate has a keen gift of putting a tear in one eye and a wrinkle in the other. This is where he is most commonly misunderstoond. A friend of mine, after reading Tate's latest book told me that he felt the poet was merely trying to show how silly and zany that he could be. His poems are often funny and even absurd, but there is a painful sadness hidden in them. "The Nitrogen Cycle" puts a smile on your face. But, the next minute you are pondering the frail nature of the human mind. This book should be read with plate of cookies and dull knife.

The thing that makes me laugh is that Tate has one of the most unique and insightful ways of looking at the world, and yet he is read so very little. It's a classic case of the public at large not catching on to what is really happening in this world. This book in particular shows a wealth of maturity in his work that didn't really show up until the Eighties. He is able to sythesise the forms of speech that people use to plump themselves up so well that you can only identify with him as a fellow observer. In particular, the poem 'I Got Blindsided' is a high point.

While the field of study into Tate's work may be a little sparse now, I believe that he has the skill and attention to the details of American life which will make him one of the truly great writers to come out of the age of the hippies.

I actually stumbled upon this book by accident, and started reading it, with no big expectations. I was very pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I have a feeling this one will gain a lot of momemtum in the coming months as word of mouth spreads. If you like fast paced mysteries that keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat, this is definitely a good one.

Ok, I admit, I had a hard time putting this book down until the very end!! The dark side of the cross is a gripping story of a small town that becomes a centrifuge for a series of thefts, betrayals and murders and a detective's race against time to catch the evil culprits.

brilliant reivew. i'm stunne.d get oyt your wallet.

This is a terrific book. You deserve it. The sparks Tate throws riffing these short stories -- better than nothing you've read recently. Trust me. Get out your wallet.

Sandburg was a superb poet. he speaks in such a raw voice, that the poems cannot help but to reach out and touch you, whether he writes about love, injustice, protest, war, chicago or any other subject.

If I were teaching Sandburg, i would use this collection as my text.

The introduction is concise, yet informative, giving some quick context to the life and ideas behind the poems.

Keeping in mind this is a selected works, and not a complete works, think of this as a "best of" edition.

Organized by ideas: * Chicago * Images * Poems of Protest * Love Poems * Lincoln * Anti-War and War Poems * Portraits * African-Americans * Poet of the People * Musings * Poetry Definitions.

By organizing them idealogically, it helps the reader becoming familiar with Sandburg as a primer. You can see his clear cynicism of religion and of religious people, and of his socialistic leanings (he is direct about these thoughts). His "Billy Sunday" is an intriguing look at a man who was just a man, yet spoke about Christ. Though Sandburg was known to be atheistic, it could be argued he had more spiritual thoughts.

You can read his sense of empathy and unity with the common man. Any urban dweller will hum in agreement to so much of his Chicago poems.

Sandburg's sense of rural beauty comes out, as does his pure admiration of Lincoln. Well-said is his recollection of the sinking of the Eastland (a boat which sunk in the Chicago River)... or, rather, his thoughts of how so many people died, and how many might've died.

I could go poem by poem, but the fact remains that Sandburg's style impacts poets today, from the Beats to Maya Angelou, to Gwendolyn Brooks.

I fully recommend this book.

Anthony Trendl

It is with the Shroud of the Gnome that Tate seems to have matured-- here is the blending of his poignant early voice and the talent of the later comic linguist. In the poem "Smart" he employs imaginatively catchy opening lines: "I had a theory for a while, but I had to let it go. / It was wasting away in captivity. / It sat there in the cage of my brain and wouldn't eat." This is Tate's gift for rare, humorous metaphor once more. Slightly off-center and yet understandable enough that you can identify the image as that of a poem never fully written or realized.

In "Dream On" he calls to the poet and the poetry lover alike: "Some people go their whole lives / without ever writing a single poem. / Extraordinary people who don't hesitate / to cut somebody's heart or skull open." In "At the Days End Motel" he reflects on life in lines like: "Down the road, about a quarter of a mile, a tractor trailer / jackknifed and took a station wagon and a minibus / with it straight to hell where they had some / remarkably good carrot cake." Here Tate is again the thought provoking poet. Surreal and abstract language create dense imagery that enhances the already edgy substance of Tate's language.

Tate has been called a standup comic of poetry, yet this is, to me, wherein his genius lies. If he can make us look closer at our world, our limitations and our potentials and at the same time tease us with a fresh look at our own language, then he deserves our attention.

Trying to live without this book is like trying to walk in shoes without your feet in them. Meaning, each poem is like a little exhortation to fall asleep at crucial intersections. Dream replacement therapy. You will absolutely love this book, or we'll come and stuff you full of numinal cheesecake.