The Best Of It: New And Selected Poems (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
While I have not read this collection in its entirety, instead I tend to pick at the book from time to time, savoring poems like snacks, I really enjoy Kay Ryan's work. I am sad to say that I did not discover her work until after she passed, though I am happy to have found her at all.Her points are short, sweet, and very much to the point. They are creative in their brevity and still carry a point or a punch if you prefer. Ironically I myself tend to write much longer poems, erring on the side of narrative, nonetheless Kay Ryan's work inspires in a poet what people seek to master in every day life: to be more concise with our communications.In keeping with such, here ends my review. Formulaic, backhandedly accomplished poems from the former U.S. Poet Laureate. A remodeler of banalities, she chooses the most accessible, earthbound subjects. The modality is one of pause-and-reflect on a pinned and mounted object. There is a ceiling on the ambition of the poems, whose resolutions are catholic, and are padded out by styrofoam wisdom. Her prosody is ailing; the repeating cascades have nearly the same time value - each are about 15 lines. Her non-reading of the subject of "Outsider Art" is a litmus test for edginess, and it fails.
What do You think about The Best Of It: New And Selected Poems (2010)?
Interesting when taken in small doses. Ten or twelve consecutive pages can get a bit monotonous.
—louise
Stunning. I picked this up at the library but will be buying a copy for home.
—kai
