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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811
EAN: 9780393324112
ISBN: 0393324117
Label: W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 128
Publication Date: 2002-12
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Studio: W. W. Norton & Company

"Garbage," A.R. Ammons writes in this book-length poem, "has to be the poem of our time because / garbage is spiritual, believable enough / to get our attention, getting in the way..." Talky and playful, the couplets of the National Book Award-winning Garbage propel one through the trash dump of 20th-century meaning, as well as into the past and future, where "millennia jiggle in your eyes at night." This project, by turns wryly self-deprecating and densely philosophical, places Ammons in the company of such recent epic funnymen as John Ashbery, Ronald Johnson, and, very self-consciously, William Carlos Williams. Like any good epic, the poem begins in doubt, with Ammons wondering whether to write the book or simply retire and live a life of leisure on Social Security (plus a surely ample pension from his longtime Cornell University professorship). Like John Milton in the preamble to his epic, Paradise Lost, Ammons uses the metaphor of a tree to focus his poetic ambition. "I mean," he writes, "take my yard maple--put out in the free / and open--has overgrown, its trunk / split down from a high fork ... The fat tree, unable to stop pouring it on, overfed and overgrew ... It just / goes to show you: moderation imposed is better / than no moderation at all." Indeed, the poem's 121 pages seem at times nothing more than an attempt to buoy the moment between two extremes: exuberant falsehoods at one end of the scale, cynical platitudes on the other. This "moderation" has served as Ammons' dominant aesthetic during his long poetic career, though Garbage's length and epic ambitions disrupt his trademark austerity. Despite his tangential questioning of reality and time, the poem's ultimate wisdom lies in how it imagines the actively good person, one who sees that

...life, life is like a poem: the moment it
begins, it begins to end: the tension this

establishes makes every move and movement, every
gap and stumble, every glide and rise significant

In a time when most poetry is about loss, Ammons wanders through our community junkyard and, with his good eye, points out what's valuable, and tells us, in his trustworthy tone, why. --Edward Skoog

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Excellent Book of Poetry!
Review: Garbage by A.R. Ammons reads--almost--like stream-of-consciousness writing, except that it really consists of well-structured, paired lines that take us,with the poet, on a journey through the junk that permeates not only our world but also our minds, hearts, and consciences. As an older reader (and English teacher for almost 30 years), I identify strongly with much that he says. And I like his unpretentious, but strong use of language. Ammons was a brilliant man with much insight. For those readers who say his book of poetry is junk, I invite them to take another look and read again each section. I am ordering this book today after borrowing a copy from a friend.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Garbage the worst book ever
Review: It's a stupid book and isnt worth while the read. You cnat understand a word the guy says. And it belongs in the trash.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Reverent refuse
Review: This is one of the most thought provoking and inspiring poetry books i have ever come accross. Ammons, an acknowledged icon of modern day poetry opens the world beyond the lyrical ballad and onto a garbage dump. inquisitive, sardonic and exhilaratingly optimistic, Ammons makes us question the way we look at life while conducting us along the I-95

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: a timeless poet & master of the long poem
Review: This book is brilliant, & so unique, through & through. Very particular music, with amazing, complex metaphors; a luminous lexus; a solid, earthy grip in the world with settings in real places such as route I-95 in Florida; & even humor. For example, at one moment in the book, there's an archetype which he comments on being "another Archie." His poetry never stops moving. I think his writing, especially this book with all its idosyncrasies & ideas, is very important poetry to know.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Who could trash this???
Review: I think it's fantastic that Norton has reissued Garbage. It and the earlier Tape for the Turn of the Year are great examples of how the long poem can still be a fun, engaging, page-turner of a genre. Ammons was a crackerjack writer and he is at his best in Garbage. It starts off with an audacious premise - that garbage is a worthy subject for epic poetry. But, the next thing you know, Ammons is making you a believer with his astounding lyricism and exuberance. He then turns his romanticized trash heap into a springboard for a engaging discussion of life, art and the question of what is permanent. Garbage is bursting at the seams with Ammons' wry humor, old-fashioned homespun wisdom and refreshingly self-deprecating honesty about the befuddlement of the human condition. A hoot to read!

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