Listen to the Warm

Rating:
Summary: Listen to the smell
Review: During a night on the town, while seeing the midnight cowboys and getting more and more bent (that means old) my friends and I shared a few laughs over the poem "A Cat Named Sloopy." Someone in the back seat brought up the subject of bad poetry and a couple of us instantly thought of Rod McKuen. My girlfriend kept an old copy of "Sloopy" stashed in the glove box. I almost crashed her sedan as she read aloud the first lines of "Sloopy".

McKuen's writing style, a strange combination of self love and bombast, mixed with bad grammar and awkward metaphors, will ever serve young poets as an example of how not to write free verse. I always chuckle when I hear the line "my arms full of canned liver and love." You say potato, and I'll say poetaster. Let's call the whole thing off.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, warm and moving.
Review: I first read this book in 1967, at the age of nine. I misplaced the book and can't find it, or another copy new or used anywhere. If I ever do, that will not happen again. I miss his gentle words and his awesome ability to express my own emotions in the simplest of terms. Rod McKuen had a profound effect on my life and my own writing style. If anyone has one let me know.

Rating:
Summary: Are you people crazy? This is the worst drivel available!
Review: I have a Rod McKuen record collection, which I file under "comedy." He follows a standard formula in his books and records: a pathetic picture of himself alone on the cover, and dozens of dreary poems in the most juvenile and embarassing language about his "looking for a friend" or "not getting love." His miserable string arrangements and inappropriate matching of upbeat songs with suicidal lyrics, and vice versa, makes him the unforgettable king of schlock.

But let's keep Rod's memory alive tongue-in-cheek, the only way possible.

Rod: get help! (From his website I understand he's now on Prozac. Thank God.) I've seen high schoolers' "I'm different" poetry that was better written. My all-time favorite is "Sloopy," an overblown dirge about a cat that leaves. Yes, Rod, your neighbors did think you were crazy prancing around in the snow calling her name. But they were also impressed at how much money you were making selling this garbage straight into the mainstream.

Next: Rod, "warm" is an adjective. "Warmth" is a noun. You cannot just mix up parts of speech and call it poetry -- especially in every other poem. And the Sloopy line about walking dogs in the snow so often "they left little pink tracks." I've never seen this: if anything, people are reluctant to walk their dogs in the snow, and certainly not on a forced march.

If we take this "poet" seriously, we do damage to the whole field of poetry, and the thousands of poets who CAN'T sell their work, and aren't millionaires mining the vein of "loner."

On an aside: there's one song somewhere in which Rod McKuen teams up with Herb Alpert. I tried to picture the scene: Herb shows up in the Tijuana Taxi, and Rod painfully tells him to leave the mariachi bass (guitaron) in the trunk.

Geez, folks, get out there and learn your poetry and live your lives. Rod is the king of cheese, not to be taken internally! I think the complete lack of mixed reviews listed here shows how seriously he is taken by real readers of books.

Rating:
Summary: Best book of poetry, ever!
Review: I owned this book for several years and somehow lost it between college and marriage. I really want to find another copy. Please, republish it!

Rating:
Summary: put your ear to the burner
Review: I've read countless volumes of poetry over the years, but no one can hold a candle to Mckuen's warm. He puts his emotions on the table and fortunately for the reader, a lazy Susan is there to ensure that no one goes to bed hungry. "Follow women after dark," Mckuen instructs, "they can only cry for help or whisper 'yes.'" And I am shouting Yes, this book is a true classic.

Rating:
Summary: Simple words dealing with life experiences and sorrows
Review: One of McKuen's strong points has always been his ability to express in simple words what all of us have probably encounted at one time or another; love and sorrow. He has the ability to say what all of have wanted to say, express in human terms the emotions all of us have experienced. He may not use the heady prose of the great writers, but there is hardly a person alive who can read this book and not say, "Been there, felt that".

Rating:
Summary: Over-rated in its day; unjustly ignored now
Review: Rod McKuen is a phenomenal modern poet. His words evoke emotions in their rawest form--sorrow, joy, anger, loneliness, etc. I cannot imagine someone reading his poetry and remaining untouched by it.

According to one of the other reviewers, his poetry is "drivel." First of all, it sounds to me like someone (the author of the review) is having some trouble publishing their own poetry and is a bit jealous of McKuen. Secondly, the author's struggles with depression and his willingness to share that with us are nothing to be made light of. Finally, nothing they said in their review convinces anyone that McKuen's poetry is not worth reading. If anything, please go out and buy or borrow this book and read it yourself, to prove this reviewer wrong.

Rod McKuen is a brilliant writer with poetry that is truly beautiful in its simplicity. No, he is not a pretentious writer. Poetry doesn't have to be masked by a thousand layers of metaphor (Dylan Thomas?) in order to make it valid. McKuen's poetry in fact proves otherwise--that often the direct is the most effective (and braver) way to reach the reader. Perhaps McKuen knew what others have as well--John Lennon, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, and Leslie Marmon Silko, to name a few--that the ordinary and simple can be extraordinary and beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: best of its type love put to words
Review: THE YOUTH OF TODAY NEED THIS BOOK........PLEASE REPUBLISH!

Rating:
Summary: Over-rated in its day; unjustly ignored now
Review: This book was in everywhere in the early 1970s -- in bookstore window and given as gifts to friends -- so it's difficult to believe it's not even in print today. Rod McKuen was a romantic, "touchy-feely" poet; he was someone you read in your early 20s and outgrew when the time came to buckle down to the more workday world of job and family. That said, these poems are not all puerile -- you can find some good lines in them if you look hard enough. "Warm" has decidedly grown cold, but it's time for a revival. I'd give him -- not only this book but his numerous others that appeared around the same few years -- a 4 for the mix: better than average, but if you're looking for poetry that sticks to your ribs a little longer, look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Listen to the Warm
Review: This is the most increcible collection of poetry. I first read it in the early 70's and can never forget how it moved me as a teenager. The poems have continued to inspire feelings and deep emotions. Truly an asset.... would make a lovely gift for a special person in your life.