You Never Know by Ron Padgett

You Never Know Reviews

• 
  Michelle

  Great collection!! I found my way to this poet by watching the film Patterson, (for which he wrote the poems that Adam Driver's character created) and am so glad I did!
• 
  Les

  4+
  Need to purchase this for my library.
  
  Wonderful. I will seek out more of Mr. Padgett's collections. This is funny, warm and wonderful with too many highlights to list.
  
  The second to last poem (Sacred Heart) is standing out because I just finished. Here is a snippet:
  
  I lay down and thought about my dream, the dream
  that was filled with the same rush of sweetness that had come
  over me the day before, when I had looked out the hospital
  window, at early light, and far below saw a person walking
  down the street alone, and felt the words thank you bursting
  from my chest.
  
  And, Embraceable You
  
  I don't mind Walt Whitman's saying
  "I contain multitudes," in fact I like it,
  but all I can imagine myself saying is
  "I contain a sandwich and some coffee and a throb."
  Maybe I should throw my arms out and sing,
  "Oh, grab hold of everything and hug tight!
  Then clouds, books, barometer, eyes wider
  and wider, come crashing through
  and leave me shattered on the floor,
  a mess of jolly jumping molecules!"
  
• 
  christopher leibow

  
  One of the first things that one notices about Padgett’s poetry is his direct language, his enthusiasm for goofiness, and an intelligent playfulness -- most of the poems in the collection move me in straightforward simple ways. Padgett’s later years have shown a poet who has come to terms with what poetry is for him and is precise without being simple. The few poems that I didn’t find as moving were a little to anecdotal for my tastes.
  
• 
  Benjamin Niespodziany

  Like listening to a friend talk to you about the magic of everyday life. Sometimes with a smile and sometimes with a thoughtful pause. This is my first time reading Padgett and I am enamored. It’s such a comfortable and reassuring voice. One I needed today.
• 
  Jeffrey (Akiva) Savett

  You never know. It’s both the title of this collection of poems and a damn good piece of life advice.
  
  And it’s a good way to characterize my relationship with Ron Padgett’s work. I love much of Black Mountain school poetry. So people told me: Ron Padgett. You’ll see.
  
  I really don’t. This is the second collection of Padgett’s I’ve given a shot. The other, How To Be Perfect, struck me exactly as this did: ...okay...
  
  Out of the 80 poems in You Never Know, I gave my highest grade (it’s so complicated...don’t even ask...there are a lot of checks and asterisks and underlines involved) to TWO. Boiled down to its simplest form, the highest score I give is a five. I gave most of these poems 3s. Many 2s. Even some 1s.
  
  The problem isn’t with the poems’ conceits; the “topics” or perspectives here are often rich with humor, possibility, and heart. It’s just the actual lack of poetry in the poems. There are too many poems ruined by an incredibly “telly” or cliche ending or prosaic diction. I was rarely surprised.
• 
  Cora

  4-1/2 stars
• 
  Scott Holstad

  Padgett is okay for an "accepted" pseudo-mainstream literary poet, but if you can't tell how much I scorn those types, you would realize that's high praise for him and utter loathing for the academic establishment -- usually of people who themselves are not gifted and hence not in the best position to judge something that has always remained somewhat subjective no matter what the Formalists thought. Yeah, I can't take most of them, can't relate to them, to their peaceful rustic or Ivory tower lives. And since they can't relate to so much of humanity who don't enjoy their leisures or even appreciate their fine craftsmanship, well a whole lot of people including me, prefer more populist poets to write and speak about things that actually MATTER to most in this country and the world and I guess if you want to protect the virginity of the canon from the intellectually inadequate masses around, stay in this cocoon, but if you have something to say, if you want to reach and impact people, I'd recommend reading more than journals such as Poetry Magazine, the Paris Review and New Yorker. There's a much bigger world out there full of talented people who are actually successful and liked by more than the 1500 writing professors who read the literary poets' works... Not recommended unless you love Dean Young, Donald Hall, Mark Strand and the like. This might be for you then...
• 
  Moira Reilly

  Ron Padgett is excellent. I've met him in person, I saw him read at Nassau Community College. His poems in this book are wonderful, fun, often a tad lighter than usual fare. Very enjoyable and a total joy to see him read. His words are very real for me. (If that means anything to you -- it does to me.)
• 
  Matt Morris

  I'll admit that I want more complexity than "Nuts" or "Amy," for instance, have to offer, but the overall simplicity, however much Padgett's surrealistic flourishes may try to mask it, of such poems as "The Austrian Maid," "Mountains Are a Feeling" & "Bluebird" make this collection a pleasure to read.
• 
  Greg Bem

  My head responded to a collection of boring thoughts, ideas, images cursed by lack of imagination at an age prided for greater, more astute reasoning.