Poetry Books

Thomas, my grandson, complains that with regular poems the lines aren't the same length so the right side looks all messy like broken sticks. It's the same with prose only not as bad. Thomas says a prose poem is nicer. The lines are all the same length, so the left side and the right side are straight. A prose poem looks like a box.

Louis Jenkins is a prose poet and a humorist, and he packs his humor like candies in wonderful little boxes, like how Milk Duds used to come. You can savor Louis's pieces one at a time, and they don't need to be read in any particular order.

Here's an example:

"BALONEY"

"There's a young couple in the parking lot, kissing. Not just kissing, they look as though they might eat each other up, kissing, nibbling, biting, mouths wide open, play fighting like young dogs, wrapped around each other like snakes. I remember that, sort of, that hunger, that passionate intensity. And I get a kind of nostalgic craving for it, in a way that I get a craving, occasionally, for the food of my childhood. Baloney on white bread, for instance: one slice of white bread with mustard or Miracle Whip or ketchup--not ketchup, one has to draw the line somewhere--and one slice of baloney. It had a nice symmetry to it, the circle of baloney and the rectangle of bread. Then you folded the bread and the baloney in the middle and took a bite out of the very center of the folded side. When you unfolded the sandwich you had a hole, a circle in the center of the bread and baloney frame, a window, a porthole from which you could get a new view of the world."

Thomas points out that I couldn't justify the right side of Louis's poem, so its messy like prose. But never mind. North of the Cities is packed full of delicious moments like "Baloney," and it ends with a delightful conversation between Louis and Garrison Keillor.

Thomas says you should buy a copy, and I think so too.

The latest work of Louis Jenkins is extremely funny, thought provoking, and moving. I can't understand why he isn't better known. Jenkins has the wit and accessibility of Billy Collins and Jack Handey, the imagination of Russell Edson, and the sensibility of Garrison Keillor. You can check out his work online: http://www.willothewispbooks.com/page2.html. If these appeal to you at all, go ahead and buy a few of his books. You won't be disappointed.

it met my expectations. the humor is not for everyone but the person i sent an additional copy to liked it too.

...having received it as a gift from my mother (who seems to like the poetry that I write, dunno why) I really enjoyed it. I was not familiar with the prose style of poetry before I read this book and I think it's something that I'd like to try. Here's my first shot:

"I recently read a bunch of short stories by Louis Jenkins, I wasn't sure what the whole thing was about. I read one after the other as if reading a novel but nothing was coming together. It was as if he had a bunch of ideas for several books, but he couldn't get past the first paragraph of any of them. By the end however, I found that I had read a book and was much enlightened."

So, if you know anything about prose poetry (and also if you don't) I suggest you give this a read. It's quite good and the short interview by Garrison Keillor is quite entertaining. Recommend.

I heard this author on Nat. Public Radio and then ordered this book for my son who occasionally writes poetry. He enjoyed the book and it was a form or poetry he was not familiar with.

Open to any page; the worst you'll find is a good poem, the best will be excellent. The assortment of poems and forms is wide, and the author's precise control of both meter and rhyme is excellent. There is none of the (so-called) 'pure poetry' - obscurantist and impenetrable. Instead there are humorous pieces interspersed with serious ones that require some work to fully decipher, with each rereading exposing increasing layers of depth and subtlety. The result is a book that provides more enjoyment than most modern poetry for both serious and casual poetry readers.

Leanne Hanson would be sheriff of all poetry. "Odd Verse Effects" is a stunning work of bold beauty. Not wishy-washy girly beauty dressed in pink, sipping tea from tiny cups and eating biscuits, but the kind of beauty that requires a muzzle, reigns, a riding crop, amd a sunset to be ridden off into. Ms. Hanson slices through many traditional poetic forms with aplomb and irreverence which provides stark contrast to Everestian pile of poetic dreck given to us by the many shlubs who call themselves poets, whether they're average-internet-joes or scholars. Every poem in this collection reverberates with the deeper truths real artists see in everything around them. From acerbic to gentle, from hysterical to dead calm, from sonnet to villanelle, Hanson's book is the modern wild mustang of verse. As a poet, I read this poetry and realized in my wildest dreams I will never write anything approaching her level of skill. Ms. Hanson is a master poet at the top of her game. As a man, I read this book I marveled at the layers of imagery, the depth of thought, and the human-ness. It is so incredibly accessible, that a person who does not love poetry will read it, understand it, and love this book. "Odd Verse Effects" isn't just a great book of poetry, it is a GREAT book. If you don't buy it, you're missing out on something special.

...and her name is Leanne Hanson. A self-described "passionate defender of the written word," Ms. Hanson suffers no foolish lovers of poetic pap in her first poetry collection, "Odd Verse Effects." Imagine a marriage of poetic tradition and modern day musings so remarkable that you'll say "I do" to reading it again and again. Imagine finally sating your hunger for irrepressibly intelligent verse topped off with spot-on irreverence and generous dollops of humor. Imagine how it feels to discover a contemporary writer whose work will leave you with one immediate regret: That you didn't order extra copies for everyone you know who has a passion for savoring the perfectly crafted word. Ms. Hanson gives true lovers of "real" poetry eighty poem's worth of reasons to believe that poetry is alive, thriving and saturated with potential and possibility.

Love her or Hate her, Leanne Hanson is a Force to be reckoned with in the World of Modern Poetry. Yeah... it sounds trite, but it's true. She has been a strong voice in On-line poetry forums for years and a strong advocate of poetry, poets, and poetics and an inspiration to many up-and-comers. This first printed edition of Leanne's is a welcome addition to any poetry library. Sometimes Classic, some times New... sometimes Neo Classic, she does it all with bite, care, whimsy, comedy, and occasionally cynicism, but always with a Masters touch and care for her craft. Leanne is a Writer and a Wrighter and a Writer's Wrighter. And you never know what odd verse effects she may have on you.

It's very rare in this age indeed to discover such a collection of poetry as this one written by the hand of Leanne Hanson; so finding Odd Verse Effects was a pleasure akin to finding a sapphire buried beneath desert sands. I've had the pleasure of workshopping with Leanne, and her flowing mythological images and sarcastic prose have, at various times, left me in tears, nodding thoughtfully, or laughing hysterically (but in a good way).

This collection contains some of her best work, and I have poured over her book again and again since it arrived on my doorstep. "Shadow Puppets" speaks against being so sure of knowledge that you make a fool of yourself. "Anchorage" speaks of musical poetry through ethereal images and rhythm, painting as vivid a word picture as that portrayed by any visual artist. "The Getting of Wisdom," one of my very favorites, pokes fun in the wittiest of ways. "Danu's Sorrow" is nothing less than a masterpiece. No matter how many times I read it, I cannot do so with dry eyes.

There are others -- Leanne writes equally well in un-metered prose as she does in traditional verse -- and every one is valuable. Her love for her craft shines through in the last few lines of "Essence":

"Not every love must spark and burn --
No purer love can be
Than one which dwells within the walls
Of perfect poetry."

If you like poetry at all, you must have this book. Its words will stray from your shelf and nestle in your brain. This is real poetry at its best.

This book is worth the read. If you like Homer. You will love this book. It is like an add on to Homer. I tell everyone I meet to pick this book up.
Easy to read. A wonderful story and written with such grace.

Lesa Trapp

By all the gods on Mount Olympus, I have never seen mythology presented so clearly! A poet is dictionary-defined as: a person of imaginative power and sense of beauty; one who presents a subject in a unique way. Marc Ladewig truly has the soul of a poet. My favorite lines, (and there are many) are:
"The strands of god run deep in mortal man
and in the stars and every blade of grass."
Marc has a way of making the gods and their times come alive in a fascinating and memorable way. This epic tale itself is a work of art, the pictures make it even easier to envision the story and the afterword is a wonderful reference tool as well. With the map, the family tree and the glossary of names and places, further study is certainly made much easier. After reading this book, even those who are not poetically inclined will want to read more. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R9ILUHVJXE75V Odysseus Bids Farewell to Calypso is a video with original musical introduction by the author.

I have loved the tales of Homer since a child; reading everything I could get my hands on in my school's library about the Trojan war and the wanderings of Odysseus. My life choices were influenced by my internalization of the warrior ethos found in Homer's immortal poems.

But the old stories grew stale, and I have been unable to get back into them in decades.... Till Marc Ladewig's amazing retelling of the Oddyssey!

This is indeed Homer for a new generation of modern readers. Marc writes in clear and understandable poetic-prose. He serves-up the epic myth in the style of Homer, trimmed of the "fat" that weighs pure translations down for modern readers.

I recommend this book to any reader of any age who thrills to the ancient tales or who enjoyed the film "Troy". But especially I hope this book is picked-up by educators, who will find this a fine piece of literature and a great tool for introducing young minds to the world of Homer. To the "fierce-bred" heroes of ancient Greece; to lovely nymphs and cleaver wives; and to mega-hearted Odysseus, doomed to wander the wine-dark seas before at last returning to hearth and home.

With "Odysseus, the Epic Myth of the Hero," the California poet Marc Ladewig has undertaken a noble task: a contemporary retelling of the adventures of Odysseus (aka "Ulysses"). The ancient king of Ithaca's deeds were originally described by the Greek poet Homer in the 8th century B.C. in the epic poems "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey," which respectively depict the Trojan War and Odysseus's magical and harrowing journey home. The two works are still the most famous epic dramas of Western Civilization, their mythology permanently etched into our collective culture. We know the stories from the original Homer and from adaptations (such as Wolfgang Petersen's 2004 movie "Troy"), elaborate re-workings (James Joyce's "Ulysses" and Joel and Ethan Coen's "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" are examples), references in story and song (including Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses"), and innumerable renderings in painting and sculpture. Who has not heard of the Cyclops, Achilles' heel, the Lotus Eaters, the Sirens, or the Trojan horse?

So, it is with a chill up the spine and a rush of nostalgia that one reads Ladewig's opening words: "Sing about that long lost man for me, dear Muse of epic song...." And we plunge into the Homeric reality of legendary warriors and fierce battles, helpful and wrathful gods, oracular and vengeful wives and mothers, seductive goddesses and terrifying creatures, and the homesick Odysseus and his ever faithful wife Penelope. In Ladewig's book, "some parts are translation, some parts are adventures upon which Homer is silent, some parts are pure invention." He is true to the spirit of the original, yet strives to fill in gaps and to interpret. Ladewig, of course, is not the only author to augment Homer's accounts: Euripides and Aeschylus wrote plays more than two thousand years ago that dealt with characters from the Trojan War. For the 21st century, it helps to have a new telling that bridges the gap between the ancient and modern worlds, and their manners of storytelling. Ladewig succeeds admirably in this. His language is fresh and modern, his poetry is vivid and sweeping, and he retains an epic tone, transporting us to faraway, mythic events that have informed our dreams and our strivings for three millennia.

These poems are amazing, haunting, beautiful. Full of emotional quicksand to pull you down into a miasma of broken dreams, lost love, aching, joy and wishing for things just out of our reach. I will be giving this book as gifts over the holidays.

Poetry is a funny thing. Poems considered epic, famous or great usually put the reader to sleep. On the other hand, a saucy limerick scribbled on a bathroom wall might be remembered for a lifetime. So, when one opens a poetry book one usually expects the worst. These days, most poems tend to be long-winded, self-indulgent echoes of rock lyrics and soap-opera dialogue, and read like free-association bonanzas. Therefore, poetry is suspect from the word Go and carries an onus of high-falootin' ridiculousness. What a pleasure to come across a book of poetry with all the classical trappings of "great poetry," rendered in a hip, modern meter, that actually speaks to current states of mind.
At first glance, Michael Andros' new collection, On Cloudless Days The Insects Sing, presents a Victorian visage, but as one takes the trouble to read the individual poems therein, his looseness and aloofness becomes apparent. What at first glance seems formal turns out to be fun and erotic. Andros must be aware of his difficult situation, and he never shies away from addressing the architecture of his inspiration (in the poem And Uncertainties, Put Away he even says, "My dreams come, unbidden to me, in twilight..."). Andros shows us what the romanticism of the Twenty-first Century might look like. He draws on much that is established and cliched, yet the result winds up in new, unexplored territory. Anyone needing reassurance about the state of the art need only read such doozies as Her Scent Of Pine And Dogwood Trees or In You I Sail Forever.
Those familiar with Andros' previous work his hard-hitting sexy graphics and take-no-prisoners poems might expect something harsh in this book. Not the case. Andros' verbal versatility takes a different path. With lilting loveliness he caresses the senses. He lets it all hang out with everyday expressions of love and desire. He likes things the way they are but doesn't mind transforming himself into something new when necessary. Therein lies a lesson for today's wannabe poets: don't be afraid to let the past shape the future.

Wow, this is now my most cherished book of poetry! Imaginatively forceful. Dark and mysterious with deep expression of pain, loss and sensual longing. Making it a meaningful, eloquent, evocative gift for lovers and poetry lovers everywhere. I can't wait for this author's next book so I can start a collection of his beautiful work.

Usually I am not fond of poetry. Sometimes poets lay it on too thick, try too hard, or don't make sense. This book is art with words. It's not forced or simplistic. At the same time, it's not too fantastical as to be a contrived product, where "deep" poems all too often spiral out of control, sucked into a vortex of narcissism and irrelevance that is fueled by their creation. Michael Andros is a talented writer. His poems touched me deeply. These are poems created by an author who wears his heart on his sleeve, and the naked honesty made me ache on many levels.

If you are looking for a journey...and you can relate to passion,loss,pain,love,and words not spoken by most, definately pick up this book. I find myself impressed by his style and honesty. Poetry is meant to represents passion, and I found it in the writer.
Deborah

This book is a great intro to Mr. Qabbani's poetry. Everything about it is well done. Cover art, binding, paper stock. All excellent. This volume will have the reader searching for more of his work.

So powerful, so sensual, so incredible. His poetry is earth shaking and primal.

I had thought your love would end my estrangement
but you passed like water between my fingers

~Nizar Qabbani

In my eternal search for poetry infused with images of water and passion, "On Entering the Sea" appeared on the Amazon horizon. How I love this site and the ability to locate life-enhancing selections of great beauty.

The poetry of Nizar Qabbani requires atmosphere and an imagination willing to travel beyond the daily drudgery of existence into longings for home, passionate encounters and the mysteries of sensation. At times his poems have echoes of ancient works that intertwine themselves with modern complexity. His work celebrates the love of country, women and sensuous images of coffeehouses and Andalusian experiences.

I write
to save the woman I love
from the cities of no poetry,
of no love
the cities of frustration and gloom
I write to make her a misty cloud

Only woman and writing
Save us from death.

As an introduction to Nizar Qabbani, On Entering the Sea presents his work in a pleasing arrangement by translator. While the introduction by Salma Khadra Jayyusi presents an overview of the book, how I wished for a section at the end to explain the details behind many of the poems. Would this enhance my enjoyment or do the poems speak of moments so profound, no other explanation is needed? It could be said that many of his poems have a universal appeal and need no further explanation.

While his words glow with a love for the female essence in life and in women, he also explores thoughts of protecting his home, lands he loves and a different perspective on war and loss. "Posters" may be shocking to some and yet it is a representation of how Nizar Qabbani sees the world and wishes for peace all while declaring war on pride. It is highly political and yet he delves into the heart of freedom for all people. Although, I think there are poems I have yet to read which apparently display a more revolutionary approach, although this is not foreign to poets the world over. I enjoyed reading Jerusalem:

Jerusalem, beloved city of mine,
tomorrow your lemon trees will bloom,
your green stalks and branches rise up joyful,
and your eyes will laugh...

He experienced so much pain and loss and was very controversial, especially in his hometown in Damascus where he challenged cultural taboos. Too often I think we as a society have condemned the erotic, all while longing for erotic pleasures of our own. Nizar Qabbani not only sets desire free in poems, he sets women free from oppression. In "Diary of an Indifferent Woman," he writes as a woman:

I want to escape from my own skin
from my own voice, from my own language
and stray like the fragrance of gardens
I want to flee from my own shadow
and from all addresses

By the end of the poem he talks about crystal bottles with dead butterflies and the images become revelations of eternal struggles for independence and for the freedom to love. During his teenage years, his sister committed suicide, because she could not marry the man she loved.

Time after time Nizar Qabbani displays an exceptional understanding of what it means to be female all while revealing what it means to be a man. Insatiable physical love and ecstasy from the sheer vision of a woman become spiritual expressions of love for God himself. "The Book of Love" is worshipful and timeless.

The name of my love.
I wrote it on the water.
I did not know
That the wind rushes by without listening,
That names dissolve in the water.

He also asks: "What is Love?" Then he humorously explains how he cannot change the woman he loves for she is "a storm trapped in a bottle."

Most of the poems are pleasing and passionate, but there are poems displaying private pain and horror as love is ripped from his hands by the ravages of terror. He perfectly describes his grief in an unusual moment where he is standing in the rubble of an attack and remembers his wife and the cadence of her name.

As he finds her handbag in the rubble, we are convinced no man has ever loved his wife this deeply, and yet the universal message makes us realize how many have loved and lost and longed for a woman like Balquis Al-Rawi. The vision he paints of honey, jasmine moons, rubies and roses will remain in my memory for as long as I love poetry. As in many passionate poems, the feelings of the poet flowed through me and appeared in tears. His poem about his mother's death is equally poignant and we are left with the scent of coffee, cardamom seeds and orange blossom water.

If you are a lover of world poetry, the poems of Nizar Qabbani are essential reading. Through his poems you feel the ancient longings of all people in all lands and in his uncensored thoughts, we can truly experience life through his eyes. I can only hope more of his work is translated in the near future. The exciting element of his poetry is often how he absorbs experience and then defeats his own inner tyranny by writing exactly what he thinks to display the beauty of truth. You will hear echoes in his writing and realize how many contemporary spiritual teachers and poets have been students of his poetry.

To peace...

~The Rebecca Review

These are the most passioante poems ever written. Some wail after unrequited love. Some bemoan the one that got away or an opportunity missed or ruined by thier own action. Many express devotion to the love that is present.

And then there are the political poems of longing for a lost land, agony for the end of a way of life and indignation at injustice. He was a great advocate for women's rights, but that work is not included in this collection.

I do not undestand why Qabbani is not better known in the US. In my opinion, he is far superior to Neruda (who was my favorite before I knew Qabbani). Less cliches, but more direct at the same time. And you hear what he has to say and reflect "that is exactly my feeling in this situation, why did I not think of that expresion...could it be said in any other way?"

I discovered him overseas, a few days before he died. I was so distressed to hear of his death, even though I only was familiar with his work a few days. In the Arab world, musicians of all stripes and capabilities attempt to use his poems as lyrics for their music. He has poems for every mood and every problem, each of them speak straight to the soul with emotion. Even people who can not normally appreciate poetry will become obsessed with Qabbani, when reading this collection.

Don't let the fact that his words have been translated from their original Arabic dissuade you from believing that somehow the work isn't as honest as it should be. Qabbani's work is so powerful it hardly matter shwat language it is in. In short, easily read dollops of wit measured out with a voice of quiet urging, he has given us work that transcends time and politics, while being above-it-all.

"If you know a man
who loves you more than I
guide me to him
so I may first congratulate
hom on his constancy
and later, kill him."

If poetry ever had a Luther Vandross, it was Pablo Neruda. If it ever had a Barry White, it was Qabbani.

This is a beautiful translation of Neruda with gorgeous artwork. I gave it as a gift to a friend.

Neruda, a gifted poet, nobel prize recipiant times two, shares his thoughts and feelings by the sea in this peaceful and sensual collection. What a captivating, romantic collection of poems. Usually I dislike "greatist hit" style books, but this collection of poems easily provides a well rounded, description of Neruda's talents. The artistry illustrated is beautiful and more than adequetly translates the feel of the book. The book is printed in spanish and english translation provided by Alastair Reid, his favorite and preferred translator. I encourage all, whether poetic novice or expert to pick this book up, especially if you are a romantic at heart.

I love Pablo's poetry. I didn't think it was possible for the art to be as beautiful as the poetry. But it is.

The coast of California, where Mary Heebner lives, is so parallel in its geography, blueness, and diverse forms of the shores from rocks to cliffs to wide sand to Neruda's mar at Isla Negra where he'd look out at that same Pacific ocean to form his poems. Mary is able to capture that intrinsic beauty of his sea and his poetry in this wonderful book of art. And you could ask for no better translator than Alastair Reid. Neruda loved how he'd walk barefoot all around his house and the beach at Isla Negra barefoot. And he loved his translations, as do I. Neruda said that "to me, the ocean is an element like air." This book of his poems about his sea, combined with the sublime blues of Mary Heebner's art, makes for such a great book for your coffee table, or as a gift, as I have given it now to six different people.

--Mark Eisner, editor of The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems

The poetry in this book is exquisite. The presentation is excellant. I own a copy of it, myself, and bought three more to give as gifts.

The CD in the back of this book is worth the cost. The graphics are ingaging and imaginative. The poems of Rumi are inspiring as always and will awaken your spirit.

I was fortunate to be present at a live performance of the Illumination Band, and the initial distribution of One Song, at a conference in Haverford in 2005. I've since bought and given away as gifts at least 12 copies of Green's book, and I love the IB. I think the juxtaposition of Rumi to bluegrass is a great expression of the inherent crossover nature and humor of Rumi. By all means get it, read it, listen to it.
(Rev) Hank Galganowicz

Spectacular! I am a Rumi scholar and I learned a great deal more from this fabulous presentation of the thoughts and works of Rumi as brought over from Persian by Coleman Barks. Michael Green's illuminations and his thoughts on the insights of Rumi are profound and relevant to understanding our spirituality and our humanness. Fantastic!

Michael Green's mastery of graphic design is the perfect complement to Rumi's mastery of mystical poetry.

I highly recommend this to everyone who loves mystical poetry and appreciates illuminated design...

PS - I don't consider the musical CD much of a value-add, but even if you didn't resonate with the music (as was the case with me), the book is well worth the expense.

An absolutely beautiful book!
The combination of the prose and the illustrations makes this book a treasure for generations to come!

Petersen's "One Year Book of Psalms:Devotionals" is an enjoyable read. It takes the appropriate amount of time with each Psalm. The shorter ones are given a day, while longer ones are broken up so that one really gets a chance to get into it. This can be used for personal reading and it could also be shared and done with a group. I highly recommend it.

If you are like me and find reading the bible sometimes too daunting a task, pick up this devotional and you get a little dose of spiritual blessing every day and in a format that you will relate to.

I love the book of Psalms and this is a great little devotional book. There is so much comfort and guidance in the Bible and I like the fact that this breaks Psalms down into bit size pieces to chew on all day long. I do wish the book was spiral bound though to make it stay open easier for my devotional study.... but then again I wish ALL books were spirial bound.

Not only do you get to read the psalms... but a nice explaination with each one as well. Very well written... it's worth a lot more than I paid for it!

Peterson's Book, 365 Days in the Psalms is excellent filled with good illustrations from ancient days as well as modern. Peterson does a fine job and I highly recommend this book for those who want to know God better.

Ann Everitt

Orlando Furioso, translated in two parts by Barabara Reynolds, is a sprawling work. A romance of the Renaissance period (first published in 1516 but written over 25 years), it covers the chivalrous and not-so chivalrous deeds of a huge cast of characters. The themes of the book are love, war and chivalry although one suspects Ariosto, the author, might have just enjoyed telling a good yarn, one tale leading to another in a vast jumble which, while not entirely undirected, only moves gradually towards a rather dimly seen goal.

Ariosto picks up from Boiardo's Orlando Innamoratto and assumes the reader has some knowledge of that poem, alluding tangentially to it throughout the work. The basic plot revolves around Charlemagne's defense of France from the Saracens, although, for most of the book, this is just back story. The siege of Paris is described in detail as are several smaller engagements - although their veracity is questionable - but primarily the story follows a panoply of characters through numerous quests, conflicts and magical interludes. The tales are drawn from many sources, contemporary to the time as well as historical and mythical. The Greek myths, in particular are woven throughout, although often gloriously unrecognizable. The tale jumps around the world - literally, as characters fly and sail from Europe to Africa, Asia and the newly discovered North America. Even the moon is a destination.

The characters range from the well known Orlando (Roland of the Charlemagne legend) and Charlemagne himself, to lesser known lights of the time drawn from other romances. The Saracens and Christians are treated almost equally - at times you have to refer to the dramatis personae to figure out which side an individual is on - and there is very even-handed treatment of both sides. Ariosto also has a rather advanced, for his time, view of women, casting several as military heros every bit the equal of men and giving almost all of his female characters strong, independent roles. No fainting wall-flower princesses here. Even the modern Disney princess pales in comparison to the fierce Marfisa (Saracen and female and a knight) and the magnificent force that is Bradamante.

The male characters are also headstrong, proud to a fault and seem more like rutting mountain goats at times, than men. They display few weaknesses, and are always ready for a challenge. The complicated plot seems designed to pit each of the heroes against each other in a complicated play-off scheme worthy of college football.

The tale ranges from brutal to poetic with scenes of beauty, nobility, cruelty and violence juxtaposed in close succession. The occasional bawdy interlude lightens the mood occasionally but this is no Decameron. The emphasis here is on chivalry and nobility of heart. Comparisons with Tasso are inevitable but probably unfair. Tasso's work is a much tighter, uniform work which reads more like a modern novel. Ariosto's work, in my opinion, belongs to a different genera entirely, consisting, as it does, of a loosely woven set of tales, held together by the slenderest of threads. Tasso and Ariosto each have their own particular charm but should not be ranked against each other.

Repeated encomiums for the house of Este, Ariosto's patrons, cloud the narrative somewhat. The fawning praise and false histories do, however, weave the thing into a whole, providing an overarching theme (the union of Ruggiero and Bradamante) which is otherwise somewhat lacking. The madness of Orlando, which lends the poem its title is really only one of many threads in the tale.

This version of the poem, translated as it is into 4000 octavo stanzas, is remarkably readable. The translation manages to retain a noble air, not sounding forced, in spite of rhyming lines and fixed form. The end notes are long enough to aid the reading and short enough to avoid snowing the reader under with useless details. Many pertain to Ariosto's use of historical figures and places of his own time. The two books of Reynold's translation each have an introduction. The first introduction is lengthy but very readable while the second is brief but fills in the gaps of the first quite nicely. A dramatis personae is presented in each book as well although the second only covers new characters introduced in the second half of the poem. These character lists are actually quite necessary for an intelligent reading of the poem as the number of characters approaches infinity. Finally, the book contains a lengthy index which concentrates on the characters and their actions.

The two volume translation is, I imagine, a bit daunting to the average reader, being nearly 1400 pages in length. It is a fairly smooth read, however, and rewards with many literary jewels. The book can be read as a whole quite easily but would also be useful to the scholar given its fairly extensive notes and indices. The one drawback for scholars would be that the paperbacks, given their enormous length, are unlikely to survive repeated readings. A hardcover version of this translation would, however, be an excellent investment.

Not a review here but a note. Readers who enjoy Orlando would appreciate Anthony Powell's witty account of the moon trip in the 12th and last volume of his A Dance to the Music of Time.

I may not have been the only person to have noticed how much the poetry improves in the last half of _Paradiso_ in the Dorothy Sayers translation. This is because Sayers died before completing the last of her translation of the _Divina Commedia_, and her devoted friend and admirer Barbara Reynolds took over. But where Sayers had been technically impressive in matching Dante's terza rima, but pedestrian in the poetry, at the point where (as I guess) Reynolds takes over a new lightness of touch and poetic feel for the language makes itself felt.

This Ariosto translation is Reynolds' great achievement. Moreover it is one of the three or four greatest literary translations in English, an achievement to stand beside Dryden's _Aeniad_ and Fairfax's _Gerusalemma Liberata_. (On Pope's _Illiad_, which I'm currently reading, I tend to agree with the contemporary reviewer who commented, "A very pretty poem, Mr Pope, but you must not call it Homer".)

She captures Ariosto's wit and lightness, occasionally turning in closing couplets for her stanzas that are as sharp as Byron's in _Don Juan_ (who was in turn also using Ariosto - among others - as a model), but also following Ariosto in allowing the sense to flow from stanza to stanza in a quite un-Byronic way. As well, she manages to transmit Ariosto's graver passages in equally dignified verse, for example some of the set pieces imitated (by Ariosto) from Homer. English readers tend to think of Ottava Rima as a vehicle for comic verse, but in Italian it is a model for epic. It's just that the great Italian epic tradition, unlike the English epic tradition before Byron's great anti-epic, includes humour.

As for Ariosto, he is a great poet and story-teller, and (not exactly a literary judgment, this) his authorial "voice" is one whose company you cannot help enjoying. His humour, sometimes sly, is also warmly compassionate; sometimes satirical, sometimes splendidly and deliberately silly. Ariosto knows his flying horses, invisibility rings, sexy sorceresses and the rest are perfectly absurd, but manages to maintain the fantasy elements as wonderful and exciting, without ever undercutting them with mere cynicism or bathos. But most often the humour is warm and character-based.

His story has an astonishing range of characters, the Moorish warriors and their lovers depicted as fairly and favourably as his Christian protegonists, and an astonish sweep, all over Europe and the East, with digressions to the Moon and other enchanted places.

Another feature of Ariosto is his feminism, which shows in his warrior women, who give and take in battle every bit as well as the men. He also tellingly mocks some of the anti-feminist aspects of chivalry, as in the scene where one of Ariosto's heroes is called upon to champion in a trial by combat a woman who has been accused of unchastity. The hero readily agrees to defend the woman's honour, but only after observing that he would as readily defend her if she were unchaste, as in his view (clearly also Ariosto's) women have a right to make love without being condemned for it.

Two last observations. First, I believe that this poem, and not Dante's, is the great Italian epic, superior to Dante for the same reason that Shakespeare is superior to Racine, or Byron's English epic is superior to Milton's or even Spencer's. Dante offers moral allegory (though with a thoroughly repellant worldview), and Ariosto's failure to preach has sometimes been taken as a sign of lack of depth or seriousness. But the great epics are about humanity, not allegory (though I have seen attempts to allegorise Homer, none have done so convincingly); and Ariosto presents one of the widest and greatest human canvases of all epic. It is the most readable long poem since the _Odyssey_. Yes.

Second, Amazon has linked this translation to another, a prose translation. I haven't read the prose translation, but I would observe that _Orlando Furioso_ is a poem. To render it as something else is to lose its structure, its purpose and its very nature. To present a prose translation of this poem as a genuine "version of Ariosto" is a bit like presenting Beethoven's Ninth symphony by playing an arrangement for kazoo: some of Beethoven will come through in a kazoo transcription, but you cannot call it the Ninth. Get the Reynolds; it is a great and easy _read_, and it is one of the glories of English poetic translation.

Cheers!

Laon

This is a wonderful flight of fantasy that is full of magic castles, horses that fly (hippogriffs), and such imagination and humor that you never cease to be entertained by it all. You may wonder like I did that: If this is "Part One", where is part two? I was unable to find any such continuation. You have to just enjoy this marvelous tale for what it is.

Ariosto was one of the giants of Renaissance literature, and this was his footprint. Grand, touching, funny, witty, stirring -- as Dryden said of Chaucer, here is the world's plenty. Some of the greatest poets of the next two centuries (Tasso, Spenser, Milton) explicitly attempted to overdo him, and only sometimes succeeded; Byron took as much from Ariosto as he did from Pulci.

But don't read this on that account. Read it because it's a delight from start to finish. War, love, and chivalry are the poet's themes, and they're here in all their forms.

I don't know Italian, but everyone I've asked who would know assures me Reynolds's translation captures not just the essence but the spirit of the original.

(Ignore the reviews that claim that this is a prose translation -- they are from another translation.)

Before reading this book, I didn't know anything about Oulipo....do you? If not, here's the gist: Oulipo are a bunch of slightly crazy people who want to find new and fun ways to write stuff. So, they create all these interesting and zany techniques to generate their writing...to me, it seems similar to how modern composers generate notes and rhythms using tone rows and stuff like that. This book is a "compendium" of these techniques, Oulipo authors, their works, etc. I think it's great. I'd recommend it to writers who want to try something new (as opposed to just writing "from the heart", or whatever) and I'd also recommend it to people who like modern, formalist type stuff. Have fun.

Rather than individually buying a variety of basic tools, consider getting the Oulipo Compendium, which contains all the essentials: screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, detective-novel-plot-generation-cards, Raymond Queneau's sonnet matrix, etc. Part of the benefit of an oulipo compendium of this scope is that it comes with its own carrying case, includes just about everything you need for at-home brain surgery, and is organized alphabetically, in the form of a dictionary. Harry Mathews and Alastair Brotchie's home/auto/linguistic tool set meets all these needs and more. Fits both standard and metric sockets. Features basic Oulipo tool set, assorted sizes of screwdrivers and ice-picks, sestina modifiers, biographies of oulipo participants side-by-side with multiple permutations of the N+7 theorem, socket wrenches with 70 sockets and 5 fingers and toes, and an especially amusing photograph of Georges Perec wearing a saucy beard. Stores easily on bokshelf or in the trunk of your car for travel emergencies. Smite your enemy by inventing a law which turns "Y" into "A" whenever it is preceded by "ENEM". Recover language and see what it's like to not live as a slave to your mother's tongue.

What can I say of the Compendium, except that I wish I had known about it years ago when I was slogging through many a boring creative writing class asking, always, "Is this all we have?" Truly, there is another side to writing, a playful, divergent, fascinating side that gives the reader and the writer a world of untold possibility.

Reading this book was very like being allowed into the fold of the Ultra Cool Kids, finding them to be an evolved form of human, and being welcomed just the same. The history, writing, and exercises held in this volume should be read by everyone thinking of exploring experimental writing. If you are bored with the status quo--and how could you not be?--then this book is for you.

Oulipo is great! This book is just so full of STUFF. What they did was just spend a lot of time thinking of wild ways to inspire & direct writing, & what we're left with is this labyrinth of experimrents. For me, the one of the greatest things gleaned from Oulipo is just the general sense that therec are sooo many more conceptual & logistical systems out there that you haven't even touched upon yet but that are waiting.

If you ever come across Arthur Brand's little article on the Oulipo, cherish it. I read it back in the late 80s, in an anthology somewhere, and I've never been able to find it since. It whet my appetite for these crazy masters of restricted composition, who spend their time devising totally new ways to write. This isn't a book for the "poetry of everyday life" set, or writing workshop clones. It's a book, as Brand said, for "mad scientists, mathematicians, monster-makers and angels." It's a writer's encylopedia, stuffed with ideas, strategies, graphs, games, machines, etc for making poetry and fiction.