North of the Cities: 50 Proses Poems and a Conversation with Garrison Keillor

by Louis Jenkins and Cleo Qian

Book Overview

50 prose poems and a conversation with Garrison Keillor This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979312809
• ISBN13: 9780979312809
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Will O'The Wisp Books
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Boxes of Humor

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.

Interesting poetry

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.

Brilliant

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.

Great book

Jenkins does it again and more. You read it through and start over right away. A wonderful book to give to readers who don't necessarily read poetry.

Contemporary Master of the Prose Poem

Robert Bly has called Louis Jenkins our contemporary master of the prose poem, and his newest book, North of the Cities, supports this assertion--as do his previous poetry collections. Jenkins has a wry, thoroughly original approach. The language is clear and direct, and often the poems are very funny. "The Afterlife" is an example: an older couple "are exiting this life as if it were a movie..." and their comments on the movie of their life together have a tone of baffled innocence. "He says, 'It didn't seem to have any plot.' 'No,' she says, 'it seemed like things just kept coming at me. Most of the time I was confused...and there was way too much sex and violence." 'Violence anyway,' he says." The poem continues, all in all a modern masterpiece of economy and insight. Many of these poems make you want to read them aloud to anyone who might be hanging around. The book concludes with a short, witty conversation between the author and Garrison Keillor. Read this book!