Tag: Poetry

Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children by Trace Beaulieu, Len Peralta (Illustrator): Wonderfully Weird Poems for Children of Most Ages

Silly Rhymes for Belligerent ChildrenSilly Rhymes for Belligerent Children:
A Yucky Big Book of Rainy Day Fun for Belligerent
Children & Odd Adults
with Nothing Better To Do

by Trace Beaulieu, Len Peralta (Illustrator)

DETAILS:
Publisher: Amorphous Productions
Publication Date: January 1, 2010 
Format: Paperback
Length: 45 pg.
Read Date: July 13, 2023

What’s Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children?

The back of the book says:

You certainly don’t need to be a belligerent child to appreciate these silly rhymes by Mystery Science Theater 3000’s and Cinematic Titanic’s Trace Beaulieu – but you may learn a thing or two about handling infected pets or living dangerously through sledding. While the subject matter may make you a bit queasy, you’ll delight in the perfect storytelling encapsulated in each poem. Each selection is a dark and distasteful delight – a fascinating collection of raw honesty, cool understatement and looming tragedy, all brought to life by the whimsical illustrations by Len Peralta. Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children isn’t the book you’ll keep on the bookcase for decades. It’s the book you’ll keep under your bed within easy reach so you can page through it long after you’ve committed all the poems to memory.

That’s pretty much what the book is—in the forward/Author’s Note, Beaulieu says these poems were inspired by daydreaming, and what better source could there be?

Well, these rhymes are meant for the kind of child I was, and frankly still am.

So don’t come here looking for nice little poems with fuzzy-wuzzy pictures of fluffy cute animals or impossibly happy youngsters fetching pails of water.

This book is intended for kids who hate that kind of stuff: older kids, of course, and adults with… well nothing better to do.

Some are short…some are longer (at least when it comes to page count), they’re all a great mixture of fun rhymes, great images, and eccentric (to say the least) ideas. Some are morbid (in a kid-friendly way), some are just strange, some are gross (in a kid-friendly way).

My One Complaint

There aren’t enough poems.

Or illustrations.

Or anything else.

I want more of everything in this book.

A Quick Word about the Art

WOW. The art is fantastic. Can you go through this book, ignore all the words in black type, and still enjoy it? Probably—some of the pictures won’t make sense without the black text, but yeah, I can see the book working if you think of it as a collection of odd illustrations (I’ve tried this twice, but keep slipping and ended up reading the poems, so I can’t promise).

They are the perfect augment/supplement/accompaniment to Beaulieu’s quirky rhymes and sensibilities.

So, what did I think about Silly Rhymes for Belligerent Children?

This is just silly fun. I, apparently, am an odd adult with nothing better to do, because I’ve read this a handful of times from cover to cover in the last few months and am pleased I did so each time.

You know how there are certain movies/shows that when you’re just mindlessly flipping through the channels (assuming you still do that) you have to stop and watch for at least a few minutes? This book is kind of like that. I cannot tell you how many times since I first read it that I’ve stopped to read a poem or two when I see this book. I’ve yet to pick it up without reading at least three poems. Generally more. And not always the same ones, either.

From the poems to the illustrations and all points in-between, I had a blast with this. I wish I knew about this back when it was first published, my kids would’ve loved it then. I probably can’t get them to slow down enough for it now. Hopefully in a few years.

Track down a copy and lose yourself in these pages. Your inner child (and inner odd-adult) will thank you.


3 Stars

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You Took the Last Bus Home by Brian Bilston: Do I Dare Eat Some Kale?

You Took the Last Bus HomeYou Took the Last Bus Home:
The Poems of Brian Bilston

by Brian Bilston

DETAILS:
Publisher: Unbound
Publication Date: April 13, 2021
Format: Paperback
Length: 226 pgs.
Read Date: March 1-29, 2023

Do I need my usual disclaimer about not being a poetry reader here?

Probably not, but I’ll throw it up anyway. This is the fourth time in about 10 years of blogging on this site that I’ve posed about a book of poetry. There’s a reason for that. I typically don’t like them.

There’s also a reason that I had to buy, read, and post about this one—after Facebook’s algorithm inexplicably started showing me his poems for a stretch back in January, I had to read more of them. So I bought this book, and now I have to talk about it. Because I try to do that about every book I read, but primarily because I want more people to have the opportunity to have fun with him.

What’s You Took the Last Bus Home About?

This a lengthy collection of poems (well, maybe not—it’s the lengthiest I own outside of textbooks, anyway) about love, loss, politics, and “everyday places and situations” (as he describes them in the Introduction—which I somehow skipped over until just now). Everyday situations like—someone wanting to borrow a phone charger (and being denied), beards, search engines, playing with a dog, and so on.

Bilston closes the Introduction by saying

I suppose these are not traditionally regarded as being teh stuff of poetry. But there is poetry to be found in anything if you look hard enough.

And Bilston looks that hard.

Playing with Form

One of the best things about poetry is the ability to use form to communicate. To play with the placement of the words on a page, and how they’re presented to get the meaning across—sometimes more effectively than the words used.

Bilston is a master of this.

From decreasing the type size in “Unforseen Consequences” to rotating the text in “Ode to a USB Stick” or something as simple as embracing the traditional shape of a Christmas tree in “Needles” (and then tweaking it), the visual impression of each page got you in the right frame of mind before you started reading.

See also his use of Flow Charts, Org Charts, Excel worksheets, etc.

So, what did I think about You Took the Last Bus Home?

I remember in college classes about poetry there’d be a certain tone of voice used with the phrase, “light verse.” It was eerily similar to the audible sneer used for the term “genre fiction.” And I get that—it’s the same reason that comedies are almost never nominated for an Oscar. It’s not right, but I get it.

But to brush this collection off because Bilston frequently brings the funny is a mistake. This is some really clever work–when he’s funny and when he’s not. The fact that he’s so frequently amusing (to one degree or another) means that when he drops that and goes for serious, earnest, or thoughtful—those are even more powerful (for example, “Refugees”). It shouldn’t be overlooked that he frequently is thoughtful and humorous in the same poem.

I like the creativity, I adore the wordplay, and—as always—I’m a sucker for anyone who makes me laugh/chortle/giggle/smile on the majority of the pages. I audibly laughed at the ninth poem—and several after that. My favorite haiku ever is to be found in these pages (and probably most of the top ten of that list, too*)

* A list that I didn’t realize I’d need/want/have until I started this book.

Did I love every poem? No. Did I skim a few? Yup. But in a collection this size, that’s to be expected, right? Particularly when it comes to someone who isn’t particularly a fan of poetry in the first place. The overwhelming majority of them absolutely worked.

This is a book to spend time with—open it up randomly, or read from cover to cover—whatever. Don’t do it all in one sitting, obviously—although I think it’d be easy to do, I typically read at least two more poems than I intended to per session (usually more than two). But it’s hard to appreciate them if you gorge yourself.

You’re not just going to want to read these yourself—you’re going to want to share these. I also couldn’t help but read a poem to whoever happened to be in the room with me—or make someone else read one that I really appreciated (especially if you needed to see it for full impact). My daughter received several messages from me that consisted of a quick photo of a page or two almost every time I sat down to read this volume.

I can’t say enough good things about this. I’ll be buying more of his work soon.


4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You by Misha Collins: A Thoroughly Pleasant Batch of Poems

Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You

Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You

by Misha Collins

Paperback, 129 pg.
Andrews McNeel Publishing, 2021

Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

A Quick Disclaimer

I really need to come up with a boiler-plate paragraph, or at least a sentence or two for the rare occasions when I read a book of poems: Poetry isn’t my thing. I try it every now and then (mostly then), and usually, when I do so, I’m reminded that it’s not something I can easily appreciate.

Still, this is my second collection this year. Maybe I’m turning a corner.*

* Probably** not.

**Almost certainly not.

So, Why Did I Buy & Read Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You

That’s easy—my daughter is one of Collins’ biggest fans and I knew she’d be raving about it. I thought it’d be nice to have something to talk about.

What’s Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You About?

This is a collection of brief (all under two small pages—most less than one) poems by the actor Misha Collins—some are about his wife and their relationship, some about his parents, friends, children, and so on.

A Common Structure

You know how with Sudden Fiction there’s a line or two at the end that acts like a punchline? Not necessarily like with a joke, but something that adds a little twist, or a surprise at the end of the story. These poems almost always feature something like that—you’re going along reading about a rainy day or something, and then in a line or two it turns into something about missing his wife. Or being a jerk about something. Or thinking about a dead friend. Something to give a little “punch.”

It was common, but even after a couple dozen of them, it didn’t stop being effective. And the ones that didn’t have it weren’t quite as good.

So, what did I think about Some Things I Still Can’t Tell You?

I don’t know if they’re great art—my instinct is to say no, but what do I know? I do know that they’re effective. They capture the feeling, the moment, the whatever Collins is talking about—they’re not the kind of poems you have to sit and ponder to dig out the meaning (you probably can dig deeper than I did), you get the payoff immediately.

For me, that’s what I want in a poem—a thought (fleeting or otherwise), an impression, a feeling—captured and passed on.

Going by that definition, this collection is a success.


3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

99 Poems to Cure Whatever’s Wrong with You or Create The Problems You Need by Sam Pink: The Cartoon Continues

99 Poems to Cure Whatever's Wrong with You or Create The Problems You Need

99 Poems to Cure
Whatever’s Wrong with You
or Create The Problems
You Need

by Sam Pink

Paperback, 103 pg.
CLASH Books, 2019

Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!


A little housekeeping to start: That title is just too long to keep using, you know? I thought about using 99PtCWWwYoCTPYN, but that’s almost as bad—actually, it’s probably worse aesthetically speaking. So, I’m going to go with 99 Poems.

Why Did I Want to Read 99 Poems…?

I’ve mentioned around here before that I’m not much of a poetry reader. In fact, I think I’ve only posted about one other poetry collection. I think this the fourth poetry collection I’ve read since I graduated from college in the mid-90s.

So what possessed me to pick this up? Well, despite what it may look like around here (and certainly how it feels sometimes), I do want to keep trying new/less familiar things. What got this to my attention was that someone on my Twitter feed posted a picture of one of the poems from this book a couple of months ago—I believe it was “The Woodchuck”—it made me smile, and it seemed like a good idea to try some more.

Which is how I got here. Trying to figure out how to talk about poems.

Comic Poems

Like the poem that got my attention, many of these poems fall under the heading of “comic.” They all won’t make you laugh—but you’ll probably grin a bit. The construction is similar to a joke, but I think it’s a disservice, even for the comic poems to treat them as simply that.

The Non-Comic Poems

Then there are the poems on the other end of the spectrum, moving, poignant—even uplifting.

I think most readers will find themselves in some/many of these. Which is both comforting and unnerving.

Approachable

None of these are difficult to read (some may be challenging to chew on)—a few are two or three lines, a few are about 2 pages long. Most are 6-ish lines long.

Really, I’ve read tweets that contain as many characters as some of these poems. I guess I’m saying, there’s no reason for non-poetry readers like me to feel intimidated by these.

Samples

I’m no photographer, but typing out these poems to give you a taste seems strange, they should look the way they were printed. Here’s a couple of the poems that stayed with me.
Masters
It's Always Both

So, what did I think about 99 Poems…?

How do you not like something with that title? That’s practically an instant 3-Stars right there.

But more than that, I liked this collection. Reading a couple of these is a good break from everything else going on in the world around you. A simple way to look at things in a different way. I’m likely to keep an eye out for more by Pink, and I think you should, too.


3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

(belated) COVER REVEAL: Living Candles by Teodora Matei

Welcome to The Irresponsible Reader’s part in the Cover Reveal for Teodora Matei’s Living Candles! I don’t know why my [expletive deleted] scheduled post didn’t go up yesterday like it was supposed to. I apologize to Lonescue, Corylus Books, and Love Books for not noticing that until this morning–this makes the 3rd tour I’ve ever missed (and the second in a row for Corylus Books, when I mess up, I go big), and it’s not the way I try to run around here. “Irresponsible” is supposed to refer to my reading ethos, not my approach to commitments.

Technically, this isn’t so much a Cover Reveal as much as it is, “here’s a nifty cover for a book that looks promising from a publisher that has a great idea”. Hope you enjoy!

Book Blurb

The discovery of a woman close to death in a city basement sends Bucharest police officers Anton Iordan and Sorin Matache on a complex chase through the city as they seek to identify the victim. As they try to track down the would-be murderer, they find a macabre trail of missing women and they realise that this isn’t the first time the killer has struck. Iordan and Matache hit one dead end after another, until they decide they’ll have to take a chance that could prove deadly.

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2HT6MnD


Corylus Books

Corylus Books is a new venture aiming to publish fiction translated into English. The people behind the company have very different backgrounds, but what brings us together is a deep appreciation of crime fiction and a strong interest in books from countries that so have been under-represented in English.

It took a while before it turned out that everyone’s thoughts had been on similar lines – that we wanted to take a chance on presenting some of the great European crime fiction that wouldn’t normally make its way into English. With a mixture of language, translation and other skills between the four of us, it seemed the logical next step to take.

The first Corylus books are a pair of Romanian crime novellas, Living Candles by Teodora Matei and Zodiac by Anamaria Ionescu.

There’s more to come in 2020 – starting with Romanian novelist’s Bogdan Teodorescu’s Sword, a powerful political thriller that has already been a bestseller in Romania and in its French translation. Sword will be available in May and will be followed later in the year by the first of two books by Icelandic crime writer Sólveig Pálsdóttir. The Fox will be available in the second half of this year, followed by Shackles in 2021.

And there’s more to come, with a novel by Bogdan Hrib set partly in Romania and partly in the north-east of England, a second novel from Teodora Matei, and we’re talking to more exciting writers from across Europe about what we can do together…


Without further ado…

The Cover


That cover just promises a creepy read. I can already feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up without reading a word. Looking at that cover makes me want to dust off my hands and look out for spiders.

You can get your hands on this cover (and the unnerving novel it goes with!) at https://amzn.to/2HT6MnD and keep an eye on Corylus Books, I think it’ll be well-worth your time.



My thanks to Love Books Group for the invitation to participate in this reveal and the materials they provided.

Love Books Group

(belated) COVER REVEAL: Zodiac by Anamaria Lonescu

Welcome to The Irresponsible Reader’s part in the Cover Reveal for Anamaria Lonescu’s Zodiac! I don’t know why my [expletive deleted] scheduled post didn’t go up on the 27th like it was supposed to. I apologize to Lonescue, Corylus Books, and Love Books for not noticing that until this morning–this makes the 2nd tour I’ve ever missed (sadly, the third was on the 28th, but more on that in a few minutes), and it’s not the way I try to run around here. “Irresponsible” is supposed to refer to my reading ethos, not my approach to commitments.

Technically, this isn’t so much a Cover Reveal as much as it is, “here’s a nifty cover for a book that looks promising from a publisher that has a great idea”. Hope you enjoy!

Book Blurb

When investigator Sergiu Manta is handed the investigation into a series of bizarre murders, he can’t sure what he’s getting involved in as he has to work with regular detective Marius Stanescu, who has his own suspicions about the biker he has been told to work with, and wants to get to the truth. The twists and turns of their investigation takes them from the city of Bucharest to the mountains of rural Romania, and back.

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/32pjB2s


Corylus Books

Corylus Books is a new venture aiming to publish fiction translated into English. The people behind the company have very different backgrounds, but what brings us together is a deep appreciation of crime fiction and a strong interest in books from countries that so have been under-represented in English.

It took a while before it turned out that everyone’s thoughts had been on similar lines – that we wanted to take a chance on presenting some of the great European crime fiction that wouldn’t normally make its way into English. With a mixture of language, translation and other skills between the four of us, it seemed the logical next step to take.

The first Corylus books are a pair of Romanian crime novellas, Living Candles by Teodora Matei and Zodiac by Anamaria Ionescu.

There’s more to come in 2020 – starting with Romanian novelist’s Bogdan Teodorescu’s Sword, a powerful political thriller that has already been a bestseller in Romania and in its French translation. Sword will be available in May and will be followed later in the year by the first of two books by Icelandic crime writer Sólveig Pálsdóttir. The Fox will be available in the second half of this year, followed by Shackles in 2021.

And there’s more to come, with a novel by Bogdan Hrib set partly in Romania and partly in the north-east of England, a second novel from Teodora Matei, and we’re talking to more exciting writers from across Europe about what we can do together…


Without further ado…

The Cover


That just jumps out at you, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t it look spiffy on your Kindle screen?

You can get your hands on this cover (and the promising looking novel!) at https://amzn.to/32pjB2s and keep an eye on Corylus Books, I think it’ll be well-worth your time.



My thanks to Love Books Group for the invitation to participate in this reveal and the materials they provided.

Love Books Group

COVER REVEAL: I Can See The Lights by Russ Litten

Welcome to The Irresponsible Reader’s part in the Cover Reveal for Russ Litten’s I Can See The Lights! Pretty pictures ahead.

But first, some words. The kind of words that you’d find in a . . .

Book Blurb

The prose poems in I Can See The Lights are earthy and raw, but also incredibly sensitive. It’s pretty much guaranteed that more than one of them will bring you to tears. Characters are vividly brought to life, and stark but warm environments evoked in a down to earth, yet almost painterly manner by Russ Litten’s uncompromising voice.

Tales of home, of un-belonging, of strife at sea—of a northern city’s beating heart. Told in a mesmeric, stripped-down tone, this collection is a work of genius.


Author Bio

Russ Litten is the author of the novels Scream If You Want To Go FasterSwear DownKingdom and the short story collection We Know What We Are.

As one half of the electronic storytelling duo Cobby and Litten, he has released three spoken word/electronica albums My People Come From The SeaBoothferry and Pound Shop Communism</b.

He has written for TV, radio and film and has worked as a writer in residence at various prisons and youth offender units. I Can See The Lights is his first poetry collection.


Without further ado…

The Cover


Now, that’s a good match between title and cover image—I honestly can’t think of a better way to evoke that title (and I’ve tried a little).

You can get your hands on this cover (and the prose poems behind it!) on the 10th of February. Keep an eye on the website for Wild Pressed Books for details (or their Twitter feed).



My thanks to Love Books Group for the invitation to participate in this reveal and the materials they provided.

Love Books Group

Dog Songs by Mary Oliver, John Burgoyne: A combination of one of my favorite topics and least favorite form

Dog SongsDog Songs

by Mary Oliver, John Burgoyne (Illustrator)

Paperback, 121 pg.
Penguin Press, 2013
Read: December 6 – 11, 2018

Be prepared. A dog is adorable and noble.
A dog is a true and noble friend. A dog
is also a hedonist.

I don’t know if I’ve posted about poetry here before. Probably not. Despite many attempts (when I was younger) — including a few classes, I’m just not a poetry guy. I can appreciate the occasional poem — and there are a few poets I can really get into, but on the whole? Not my thing.

But part of the 2018 While You Were Reading Challenge, was to read a collection of poetry — and I came close to grabbing an Ogden Nash book off my shelves, but my wife had been given a collection a year or so ago of poems about dogs. And it’s been at least a month since I posted something about dogs, so it’s about time.

So yeah, there are 35 poems about dogs — most of them (all of them?) seem to be based on Oliver’s own dogs — a couple of dogs get a handful of poems about them. Those, obviously, you get a pretty good idea about. Otherwise, it’s just one-shots about some great-sounding dogs.

Oliver does a great job conveying a strong impression about a dog in just a few lines — or even a few words. “He was a mixture of gravity and waggity” is one of the best lines I’ve read in 2018. I do think she goes over the top in terms of the wisdom or deep knowledge, etc. of dogs. But when she focuses on behavior, or personalities of specific animals, I find her pretty entertaining — and even moving.

I’m not saying that I’m going out to grab every Oliver collection in print or anything, but I liked most of these poems — several of them I liked a lot.

There’s also one essay in this slim volume. Skip it. Oliver is a poet, not an essayist.

Does this book need Burgoyne’s illustrations? Nope. But they’re nice to look at, so I’m not complaining. I’d be more than happy to hang some of these around the house.

—–

3 Stars

✔ Read a collection of poetry.

Laughing Eyes by Haya Magner, Miri Leshem Peli

Laughing EyesLaughing Eyes

by Haya Magner, Miri Leshem-Peli (Illustrator)
Kindle Edition, 27 pg.
Tzameret Books Ltd, 2017

Read: January 8, 2018

I . . . I don’t know what to say here. This is a collection of poems for young children — they are clearly earnest, carefully composed, and intended to uplift the spirits of young readers.

And I just didn’t get it, at least most of it. Seriously, I don’t know why, but I didn’t understand most of these poems. As this is a book intended for 2-7 year olds, that bothers me. I’m hoping, hoping it’s a cultural thing and that readers from Israel get what she’s saying.

The illustrations, though? Leshem Peli’s artwork is warm, inviting and eye-catching. It’s exactly what these kind of books should be full of.

I feel pretty bad about this, but I just didn’t like the book. Hopefully most of Magner’s audience are smarter than me.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

—–

2 Stars

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