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National Poetry Series
What Ridiculous Things We Could Ask of Each Other: Poems
The poems in What Ridiculous Things We Could Ask of Each Other comb through the rubble of everyday life in search of the shards of beauty and hope that might still be found there. At the same time, these poems struggle to conceive of the beautiful and the hopeful in some way that can escape the purely naive. They confront loss and wrong, but because “Elegy / is stupid, if you can avoid it,” they seek, so much as is possible, not to offer consolation in exchange for what ought not to have happened in the first place. If making the world right with itself would be simultaneously the simplest and the most difficult thing, these poems try to imagine the moment right before that change would become possible and try to imagine the questions we’d be confronted with then, in hope of opening the possibility of imagining the answers.
- GenresPoetry
88 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 12, 2015
I enjoyed these poems set in a seemingly post-apocalyptic urban wasteland. They’re full of black humor, sarcasm and realistically pessimistic views of the American future. They’re very densely structured, usually in complete sentences of free verse. Schultz might have changed up the length and format a bit more. Also, I didn’t particularly care for his habit of including himself as a character in the poems’ titles, as in “J. Resists the Urge to Comment on Your Blog.”
Favorite line: “try to shake this suspicion that God’s / fallen asleep in the projection booth.”
Favorite line: “try to shake this suspicion that God’s / fallen asleep in the projection booth.”
February 27, 2015
An amazing collection of contemporary poetry that pulls beauty from the detritus and scraps of modern urban life, the poetry of souls struggling in world of commerce and mechanization. Smart, painful, sometimes funny, always insightful, I give this book of poetry my highest recommendation.
[I received an e-galley of this book through Netgalley.]
[I received an e-galley of this book through Netgalley.]
December 22, 2016
(Generously provided by University of Georgia Press via NetGalley)
What Ridiculous Things We Could Ask of Each Other contains beautiful observations concerning modern urban life. It's sharp, witty and humorously clever. What other poetry collection would make you feel sympathetic towards a telemarketer?? This collection is brilliant and well worth the read.
What Ridiculous Things We Could Ask of Each Other contains beautiful observations concerning modern urban life. It's sharp, witty and humorously clever. What other poetry collection would make you feel sympathetic towards a telemarketer?? This collection is brilliant and well worth the read.
March 12, 2015
I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Very good. A collection that focuses on the minutia of life, the bleakness of our society, and the quiet sadness of the world. I especially enjoyed 'The Gathering Blues' and the "J" series.
Very good. A collection that focuses on the minutia of life, the bleakness of our society, and the quiet sadness of the world. I especially enjoyed 'The Gathering Blues' and the "J" series.
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December 26, 2021Good poetry, but nothing that has stuck with me.
May 3, 2018
This collection of poetry really held me in captivating for the whole read. Reading it out loud even to myself just gave the words so much more power and brought me into the poets’ world long enough to find meaning. The post-apocalyptic poetry was full of humor and thought-provoking lines that had me talking out loud to my cat about the meaning behind them.
My only drawback is that as a digital copy it felt unfinished and a bit unorganized. I had words that were either incomplete or completely gone at points which made for a bit of disjointed thinking sometimes. Otherwise, I would highly recommend this book of poetry and give it three and a half beans for being so different from what we traditionally read.
My only drawback is that as a digital copy it felt unfinished and a bit unorganized. I had words that were either incomplete or completely gone at points which made for a bit of disjointed thinking sometimes. Otherwise, I would highly recommend this book of poetry and give it three and a half beans for being so different from what we traditionally read.
March 31, 2015
Poetry that speaks to you..fresh, unique, bold, truthful, with just that touch of humor that keeps it from being a dark read..
This is truly a must read (and to read again)
This is truly a must read (and to read again)
March 2, 2015
Perfect in every way!
September 11, 2017
Maybe I would have liked this collection more if I had been in a darker emotional state, because the analogies were unnecessarily dark and brooding.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews