Alone and Not Alone by Ron Padgett

Alone and Not Alone Reviews

• 
  Peycho Kanev

  What Poem
  
  What poem
  were you thinking of,
  my dear,
  as you breezed out the door
  in your long coat fur-tipped
  at the top?
  What animal
  once wore that fur
  and licked it
  with a long, raspy tongue
  that lolled to one side
  in the afternoon shade?
  If only you too
  could lope across
  the Serengeti Plain
  and grab something
  in your powerful jaws,
  instead of pausing
  at the door and saying,
  as if in afterthought,
  “Write a poem
  while I’m out.”
• 
  Marcus

  I want art to change my life. Help wake me up and feel more alive. To ease the pain of living and sometimes bring some joy. Alone and Not Alone does that for me. I have read a lot of the earlier work of Ron Padgett and like it a lot but I am especially liking his later work. This new book is stellar. Padgett's later work is an especially warm experimentalism. Playful, generous, highly imaginative, full of the wisdom of lived experience with a light touch. This is not so called academic experimental poetry (depending on what that term means to you). These are not poems with disjunctive syntax and highly specialised language from academia/theory/corporation and so on. These poems are not overly masculine and machismo. They are never cliched or cheezy. There is a childlike openness and curiosity. They are also complex and surprising and in motion. It takes a highly skilled artist to use everyday conversational/simplified language to express complex emotions and ideas (think of the best of Basho, Frank O'Hara, Eileen Myles, Matthew Rohrer, Kenneth Koch etc). There is a voice (or voices) that just welcomes you and then takes you to unexpected places. I want to go where the poem takes me. I want to listen to the voice(s) in these all poems all day. Authenticity is a loaded word but I am going to say yeah authenticity. Padgett is not a poseur. His poetry is all over the map. A breadth. Yeah a breadth that I want from art. An art that tries to be as big as life. I am in love with the work of Ron Padgett!!
• 
  Brad Carl

  I do appreciate Ron Padgett's style of poetry. Some of it is hard to get into, of course. But then some of it is so straight-forward that it inspires me to close the book and write my own.
• 
  B.

  I became enamored with Ron Padgett's poetry when I first saw Jim Jarmusch's Paterson, the only film that I have ever seen that meditates on the life of a poet who works in today's world. Padgett's clarity, keen observation, and unelevated language is often a beautiful vehicle for poetic bliss. To quote Eminem: when it's going good, it's going great. However, when it isn't going good, Padgett's poems can feel more like notebook scraps or toothless first drafts.
  
  This is not necessarily a criticism that will or should turn readers off from all of the work collected in Alone or Not Alone; there is still a fifth or so of this collection that is treasurable. Padgett, a poet who falls neatly into the "New York School" with the likes of Frank O'Hara, John Ashbery, and Kenneth Koch, values spontaneity (and purity) in poetry over intensive revision. The unpolished feel of his work is part of his voice and charm as a poet, and ultimately, the keystone of his overall aesthetic.
  
  The two-star rating is not meant to be a knock on Padgett's style, but on the lack of truly affecting and memorable poems contained in his latest collection. All too often, reading Alone and Not Alone feels like reading the unpublished or uncollected section of a Collected Poems book from a poet that you admire. Are the poems still pure Padgett? Yes. Are they of a consistently high caliber? No, not at all really. Ultimately, this collection if not an effective starting point to embark down the Padgett path - it may turn readers off from him with a resounding "meh." Luckily, I have been flipping through Padgett's Collected Poems in order to remind myself of Padgett "going good."
  
  Highlights:
  "What Poem"
  "The Roman Numerals"
  "Butterfly"
  "Where Is My Head?"
  "The Punding Rabbit"
  "The Elevation of Ideals"
  "Birgitte Hohlenberg"
  "Preface to Philosophy"
  "Art Lessons"
  "The World of Us"
  "Of Copse and Coppice"
  "Shipwreck in General"
  "French Art in the 1950s"
• 
  Haines Eason

  I literally scratched at page 82 thinking it had been defaced by a vandal’s sticker—it’s almost worth picking up this collection just for that surprise. (Maybe someday you’ll read this collection and you’ll say “aha” and then “yeah.”) Almost is the operative word though...
• 
  Mark Ballinger

  So, fuckin' white guy says to himself, "Hey. My life experiences are so great, and my thinking about them is so deep. I should write it down. Plus, I am so clever."
  
  Pro tip. If you, poet, use the line "2001 . . . Before the Towers came down", you lose.
  
  One bit of insight here. He's talking to "an Indian or Pakistani woman".
  
  

  She looks at me and says, "Yes, it's amazing the way they change things so fast," and looks away.
• 
  Corey

  I came to him through the movie Paterson. Apparently he wrote the poems that the main character is composing throughout the film. His witty, plain-speaking surrealism reminded me at times of Brautigan, at times of James Tate.
• 
  Ali Amiri

  if A Good Poet is Hard to Find for you, then Padgett is your man.
• 
  Marina

  ¿Fueron mis expectativas altas que me traicionaron o simplemente no me gustó?
• 
  Seda Hovhannisyan

  Մի երգ կար
  որ պապս սիրում էր երգել
  երգի մեջ մի տող կար, հարցնում էր`
  կուզեի՞ր լինել ձուկ։
  Նույն երգի մեջ
  նույն հարցը հնչում էր մի քանի անգամ
  ձկան փոխարեն ավանակ ու խոզ
  բայց գլխիս մեջ պտտվում է էն մի տողը
  որ հարցնում էր`
  կուզեի՞ր լինել ձուկ։
  Հենց էդ մի տողը։
  ‌- Պատերսոն ֆիլմից, հ.ս.
  Բուկովսկիից հետո իմ ամենասիրելի գրողը` Ռոն Փաջեթ, ծանոթացեք, ladies and gentlemen
• 
  Gabriel

  My problem with this book is mostly because of a poem called "the Chinese girl" that for me besides of being racist (I think it is), it's disgusting to imagine a 67 years old man imagining a life long with a 18 years old, and most of the pens are really mediocrer
• 
  Liz

  Especially charmed by "Art Lessons," "Roman Numerals," "I Felt," and "The World of Us."
• 
  Levan Chkonia

  ორს ვწერ, კი, მაგრამ მართლა კარგია
• 
  Lisa

  A fun, quirky collection with a few gems, especially "The Street," which has a slow, powerful beauty.
• 
  Nicky Enriquez

  Ron Padgett is always a joy.
• 
  Kathleen

  My favourite poems in this book of poetry are What Poem, One Thing Led to Another, and Pea Jacket.
• 
  j.e.rodriguez

  "The best still lifes have emptiness."
• 
  Laurel Jones

  Playful, whimsical, emotive, and creative. A gentle and enjoyable read of someone looking at where their life is now - later in their life.
• 
  Jessie (Zombie_likes_cake)

  Not for me. The poems seemed very accessible, the writing is more on straight-forward side yet it still managed to be over my head. I caught myself literally shaking my head in confusion to what this could mean. No click with me.
  My favorite was "Butterfly" which can be found very early on in the collection. In the end, I don't regret picking this up, true, I did not like it all that much (or get it all that much) but I see it as a stepping stone on the poetry journey which I am on right that makes this path more diverse and ultimately -hopefully- will help shape my taste in poetry.
• 
  Jen

  Favorite poems:
  
  Face Value
  The Pounding Rabbit (structure)
  The Elevation of Ideals
  The Value of Discipline
  Pea Jacket
  The Rabbi with a Puzzle Voice
  Syntactical Structures
  The World of Us
  
• 
  Jim Rickson

  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!