| Title | : | Big Cabin |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1566895499 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781566895491 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 112 |
| Publication | : | First published July 2, 2019 |
Big Cabin Reviews
-
https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/bi...
About eighty percent into reading this book I decided to discover if I had made any notes on my kindle. Normally I would know how active I have been, but this title proved to be pretty inconsequential and I was already confident my review, if there would be a review, would pretty much resemble the book. My search for notes in my kindle was conducted in hopes of proving myself wrong and that yes I had actually found something remarkable or of interest in Padgett’s book, and it was significant enough to have recorded it. But there wasn’t even one note, and given I only had another twenty percent of the book remaining to read I was betting that in the end my notes would still display a blank page.
Ron Padgett seems like a decent man, friendly, communicative, and down to earth. Nothing wrong with any of those qualities. This book was pretty similar to the man described. I had not read or seen any of his earlier poetry, but I was familiar with his name. Padgett is another man of letters with several awards and a placeholder of respect that most poets would covet. This book Big Cabin at first sight looked interesting, and given Padgett’s lofty status as “revered poet” I assumed there would be something in this book, like poetry, that I might engage in. Seems Padgett probably sat himself down each morning or evening to write a bit in his journal, recording what had happened that day or what had caught his attention, physical or otherwise. The book’s structure is generally prose in the form of poetic lines. But given there is not even a smidgen of lyricism or rhyme, if Padgett really is a poet it would have been best for me to read this book last. Chances are slim I will look at anymore work by him. But Padgett did save what seems to me his best lines for last. And he demonstrates better than I can his acumen for poetry.
...Finally I got up
and went down and made
oatmeal, toast and tea,
jasmine,
to put a little bit of China
into me and wake me up,
like
a real human who
does whatever he has to
do.
Like stop. -
Short poems, accessible, slice of life, mostly concerned with small moments and observations from a mountain cabin – I expected to love this book, but it was not my cup of tea, even though Padgett did serve some jasmine. However, I did get some hints that I should read an earlier book or volume of selected poems. With blurbs from Ashbery, Notley, Creely, Simic, and Collins, I'm willing to accept that others will enjoy this book more than I and will not pull down Padgett's rating.
For me, many of the poems seemed an exercise in perseverance. I should know. The poet feels he is stuck and being lazy. Says, "Sit in the chair, stare at your paper or the lake, and write whatever comes to mind, or you get no dinner." Thus we are given poems that say little more than (his words), "Saved again by lunch"; "I give up / for today / but I'll be back / tomorrow"; and "I'm going to look at my watch / though I don't really care what time it is."
To be fair, I must admit that I enjoyed some of the poems and that section 2, "Completion," was my favorite part of the book. It's an essay or journal entries about Padgett's life and attitudes toward writing. Two poems actually wowed me. “Harold Clough” is a warm and amusing character sketch of an eccentric old man he once knew. “Life without You” was the one poem that deeply touched me. He begins
“I leap from the title to this first line as if over a stream
and find myself on the other side, safe
but for how long there is no way of knowing….
I think I will like it here, but I will
have to forget about a great many things,
in fact almost everything, including you
and thus myself….” -
big cabin is a poetry collection which takes place during the poet's stay in a cabin in the woods in vermont where he takes advantage of solitude and lush, natural surroundings to write down his observations.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. omg i cant help it i just love this so much?!????? these poems were split into 3 parts - as they were written over three autumns in the cabin. in the middle section of prose, padgett wrote in such a way that its like a personal journal of sorts which is so worth mentioning UGH I LOVE IT. some of his poems are so witty and funny and i find myself enjoying reading them more than i expected it to be.
i dont get why good poetry books are so underrated 😭😭😭 this is probably already one of my best poetry reads. highly recommended, pls dont miss this one!!!!
sweeping away
what i want to do
is to forget everything
i ever knew about poetry
and sweep the pine needles
off the cabin roof
and watch them fly away
into this october afternoon
the pen is mightier than the sword
but today the broom
is mightier than the pen -
For such a small collection, this is a work of astonishing beauty.
I discovered Ron Padgett when I learned that he wrote the poetry in the Jim Jarmusch film “Paterson,” which is one of my favorite movies. And this is the first time I’ve read a full collection from him.
The first poem, a small one, left me quiet and reflective, and introduced me to a few themes running through Padgett’s style.
“I like it here in this cabin.
I like looking out the window
at the pond and the trees beyond
and with quiet inside.
Sixty years ago I was a boy
with a baseball glove in Oklahoma,
looking down at it and knowing
I would give it away
and not buy a new one.”
Free form simplicity that turns your emotions effortlessly and in only a line or two. That little poem there is one of the most powerful I’ve ever read about growing up.
There is a great playfulness to Padgett’s words and how he approaches the subjects he writes about. More than half of these poems make me laugh out loud every time I read them. Sometimes I’m just amazed by the way he puts things, how he blends the quietest of human moments with our most fundamental and profound musings and emotions, and, reading these poems, I was deeply moved and laughed often, sometimes within the same poem.
“It feels cold in this room
until I go outside.
Is that a metaphor
waiting for its meaning?
Probably.
Isn’t everything waiting for its meaning?
Go ahead,
infuse everything with meaning.
See how far it’ll get you.”
I appreciate, too, as these poems weave through time, across memory, mingled with descriptions of the present and the place—the cabin—he is staying in as he writes, through experiences of joy and loss and absurdism and confusion and awe, Ron Padgett never takes himself too seriously. Some of the poems are flat out weird, some will just make you laugh, others will make you laugh or smile while they’re really using the strange images and absurd ideas to talk about something deeply meaningful. It’s such a playful collection, yet so much more than the irony it flirts with.
So it’s a collection about the present and the past and the future, a series of deeply honest and stirring reflections and musings, and in some ways it feels so personal. But it’s also kind of inspiring, how many of the poems feel like they’re exploring different ways of accepting our lives and liking ourselves, if not loving ourselves. Padgett says, not directly but in so many ways, that he doesn’t really know that much about the important things, which I think we all might feel, but there’s a wisdom in that not knowing, and a wisdom too in the deeply honest, human playfulness on display here.
How many ways can I say I love this collection of poetry, and can’t wait to further discover this revered poet? -
I got into poetry because of Padgett. Well, more like because someone used his poems in a film, and Adam Driver read them in the movie. So both the words and the medium reawakened my admiration and connection with a literary form I otherwise hadn't cared much about. Padgett taught me poetry could be simple. Adam taught me simple poetry could be read exquisitely.
None of the poems from Big Cabin are in that movie, though. I got Big Cabin because I wanted nature poetry from a self-aware poet who liked to break the fourth wall.
Some of this collection is about nature. Some of it is about a man growing old, and then glancing outside to see what he can see. Some of it is a nature metaphor. I enjoyed all of it.
Support your local library! -
This is the second book of poetry I read today. I liked this one a little more than the other one I think. I gave them both five stars because they both deserve five stars. But I think I like this one a little more.
Anyways. Three sections. I love the way this book moves. Poems, then a short lyric essay. Then more poems. The poems are simple and cut to what Ron Padgett sees and the way his mind jumps from one thing to another. The lyric essay takes those thoughts and lets them breathe. They work well together.
Some of these poems have animals. Ducks and beavers and porquipines. I like those. Lots of them have observations of the place he was staying when he wrote this. I liked those even more because they made me feel peaceful. -
💭 passar três outonos numa cabana à beira de um lago em vermont… viver uma vida poética, seja fazendo um sanduíche ou observando os patos ou esperando um faz-tudo… não significa grandiloquência… li em algum lugar alguém falando que os poemas de padgett são como balões de pensamento de histórias em quadrinhos… nada tão… exato!?
💭 (lembram dos poemas do filme “paterson”? então, são do ron padgett… aliás, melhor amigo do joe brainard…)
💭
Big Cabin
I like it here in this cabin.
I like looking out the window
at the pond and trees beyond
and with quiet inside.
Sixty years ago I was a boy
with a baseball glove in Oklahoma,
looking down at it and knowing
I would give it away
and not buy a new one. -
It might help that I read this one outdoors. This collection of poetry infuses life and images of nature. In entry after entry, I found rustic language and a voice worth noting.
For example, in just a few lines, Padgett prods language in "And Truly;" in "People," he examines social living (making cabin life sound attractive); in "Harold Clough," the poet employs descriptive language in a literary portrait.
These are only a few examples, and there are many more to explore in this collection. -
This book has limited prose and actually contains more poetry. Although I am a big ambassador of poetry, the topics of many of these poems revolves around consciousness and the sense of self. Typically I would be very interested in that topic; however, I don’t think I was in the right mental state to read that myriad of poems.
-
In addition to his poems that work on the atomic level folding the actual into the interpreted, the poet in this new volume allows us into his core as he has not done previously. "Completion," a diaristic assessment, gets us as close as we're ever likely to get to the master of the unexpected.
-
Soothing and generous.
-
Beautiful collection. Just the sort of poetry book that I love.
-
Men of a certain age
might only know
other men
How aware can a person be? These beautiful meditations -
Wonderful.
