Digest (Stahlecker Selections)

Handful of great poems in here. Half are good. The rest? Just okay. I'm tired of reading Pulitzer and "American's Best" poets--I feel like so many poets nowadays are writing in a vacuum. Writing for academia. Writing for other poets. Too many riddles. Too many self-referential or autobiographical musings that make it near impossible for the reader to uncover the argument behind each poem.This collection of poetry is no exception. Pardlo is a masterful poet at the granular level. His words have a strong sense of musicality and of newness. But he plays to this strength too much, it turns into a vice--by the end of a poem I feel so barraged by four-syllable words and strange syntax, I have no desire to return to decipher what is happening behind the text. Beyond that, there are plenty of moments in his stream-of-conscious writing where I completely lose the momentum of the opening and title of the poem.There are some absolute gems in here though. I especially love the African-American father perspective so delicately interwoven throughout the collection. His story telling and subsequent social commentary are absolutely on the mark. The shining moments are what save the value of the collection for me. Would I buy this book had I known exactly the content of it? I believe so--mainly for the 8-10 great poems in here.

Everyone is rushing to read this now that it has won the Pulitzer. It's a really hefty and wonderful rush of word, sound, and musing. This is a collection to keep and return to again and again with each re-reading rewarded.

After Pardlo's book won the Pulitzer for Poetry, it was difficult to obtain! But my Amazon order was filled and sent as quickly as could be, and the book proved worthy of it's notice.

It is not surprising Pardlo is the winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize. His poetry is stunning, his word choices and metaphors, colors and textures of such strong visual quality, makes your eyes wet. Not to say all of his poetry is accessible. Much googling done every other sentence to decipher nuance to appreciate the muscle of a poem's message. Highly recommended for those who'd appreciate thickening their dendritic connections.

real and brilliant

enjoyed.

Absolutely beautiful, moving, and linguistically dense poems.

Great poetry. Easy to read. Stories come alive.

It was a gift well liked

One of the best poetry books I've read in a long time. Worthy of the Pulitzer Prize, these poems combine beautiful language with a powerful voice that's cuts through the crap of society (and much poetry) to express psychological truth.