Karen Volkman Books

Karen Volkman's third book of poetry affirms that she continues to be one of the most pressing & talented poets we have. This book is a searing song-- no syllable ever misses a millimeter. Here should leave a mark. Volkman's highly musical words are like Milton dipped Petrarch's mood in a patient etherized upon a table with a rinse of Dante's terza rima. Sexy. The flow of sonnets is uninterrupted ever. The unbroken, pellucid sonnet sequence assembled here is a read for the ear.

This is the strongest debut--and in fact the most exciting book of poems--that I have read in a long time. The poems are indeed smart (aren't poets supposed to, like, kinda know stuff?), but Volkman has such a respect for the forces of language that they are never only clever. I'd actually given up expecting to find new poems so immediately exciting that also compelled slow, tough reading.

If I had one qualm it's that the ghost of Plath, or her punchy, crackly diction, seems to haunt a couple too many poems. But I am amazed at Volkman's detractors (below). Mostly when I read those kind of comments I can see what they are getting at. In this case, I simply have no idea what they are talking about. Crash's Law is wonderful stuff: expert without being mannered (no "well-made" observations here); sharp without being slick. It's just very heartening that someone is again capable of doing work of this quality so early in her career.

The real thing, again, at last.

Karen Volkman's is a voice one does want to see continue. In this book, she offers her own insights & ideas -- poetically, unuquely, metaphorically -- & embraces lyric poetry while remaining as experimental as she weants to be. Clearly she's smart, individualistic, & I'm interested to see what more poetry she proves capable of, as early books tend to be regarded as primarily only formative after the career has been attended to further.

I love the wit and intelligence of Volkman's poetry.

Her work is erudite and crafty, emotionally deep and unwaveringly honest. Her many awards are richly deserved-- she is one poet who I think will have strength and staying power. Since this book's publication, I have run across her work in a variety of poetry journals, including the Paris Review, and have been impressed by her range and intelligence. She is clearly very confident and unafraid of challenging herself.

I greatly look forward to her next book. I think it is coming out soon in fact.

Don't believe the hype with this book. Pretentious, deliberately opaque, and just plain boring, this is one of those books that leaves you nonplussed at how the judges of the National Poetry Series justified giving it an award. Yawn.

It is obvious as you enter this book of poems why it was a prize winner. The poet is very talented. She has taken the tradition of the prose poem and jumped into it wholeheartedly. There are a few non-prose poems thrown in with titles which helps to break up the density of the prose poems.

All that being said, this is not a book of poems for the lay reader. I came away feeling that this is artistically sound for those intrested in: post-modernism, surrealism and prose-poetry, but for the general public this may be a difficult book to delve into.

I will be interested to see where this poet takes her style into the future because with lines (from page 7 in my edition) such as the following how can there not be promise!: Meet me two years earlier in the street. Omega Street. I'll try to be there, to be / perfectly present, to get the eyes right.

Google Karen Volkman online and there is this hilarious review written about her, which says what I think far better than I ever could. Volkman is a joke. That people like this teach?!?!

I was disappointed, at first, by the prose poem approach: what would happen to the humorous voices rounded by line breaks, alligator purses, tennis courts and humanity's other detritus? This is a poet capable of anything, including sheer beauteous irrelevancy. I wanted her to cling to the personable. But she does sustain a voice, a narrrative harkening back to embodiment, while playing with it. Very impressive. A bit cold? Performance like this can only be judged by the next permutation. I eagerly await it. I do.

Karen Volkman is definitely one of the leading poets of her generation. Of this, I have no doubt. In this, her second collection, Volkman uses a denser language and syntax than in her first collection, but the effect is quite stunning. I am not a huge fan of the prose poem, but Volkman knows how to use that form well and demonstrates it in this collection over and over. This is a beautifully-written collection of poetry and is highly recommended by me to anyone interested in what the poets under 40 are writing.//C. Dale Young, Poetry Editor, NEW ENGLAND REVIEW

Karen Volkman is a very special poet, & for me this book is an absolute masterpiece in terms of aural sophistication & conceptual ingenuity. Volkman writes like no one else, & her writing is rife with great poetic decisions. Her art inspires me with its great vision & boldness. I don't know how unique to me this strong feeling of being able to relate to the thoughts she presents is, but I love it. The book starts with the poem Create Desire, which starts with the line "Someone was searching for a form of fire." Is that what life is? That you are someone searching for a form of fire? Later, she ends one of the prose poems with "Your turn." She ends one with a string of 3 vowels. She builds one by planting in your mind the suspician that she's addressing a lover, then reveals in the last few words that she is indeed. Her tropes & unexpected word choices are so exciting. One of my favorite syntgactical excerpts from the book is in one of the prose poems when she writes,"Plural keeps and cues med, does me dither. Is what is more than mind is -- when I am?" -- though that's not much of an example of her troping. Nothing she does in this book feels accidental or not fully thought through; everything feels like a perfect deliberate decision. She is aware of what prose poems do to the weight of words & the pace of the poem. She's very sparing with titles. She uses more regular lines & stanzas when she decides to. Reading this book is like riding a motorcycle with no brakes! As far as another reviewer's comment that Volkman doesn't give the reader enough information, I think the level of electric metaphor that might be abstruse is a matter of taste.... If you're interested enough in poetry to be considering this book & reading my review, do buy the book; I hope you'll be as pleased as I am.