So Going Around Cities: New & Selected Poems 1958-1979

Rating:
Summary: RE: Ted Berrigan
Review: This is the master book by the master poet of his era. Some poets are afraid to put anything into writing. They don't want the reader to get away with anything. Not Berrigan. He was the most generous poet alive. Everywhere he lived, poetry magazines & readings sprang into being. His poetry is just as generous as he was. This book takes you where he went. He's the source. He never lost his voice & it's still working today. Everything that is alive about American poetry now, comes knowingly or unwittingly through Ted Berrigan. This book shows you how.

Rating:
Summary: RE: Ted Berrigan
Review: This is the master book by the master poet of his era. Some poets are afraid to put anything into writing. They don't want the reader to get away with anything. Not Berrigan. He was the most generous poet alive. Everywhere he lived, poetry magazines & readings sprang into being. His poetry is just as generous as he was. This book takes you where he went. He's the source. He never lost his voice & it's still working today. Everything that is alive about American poetry now, comes knowingly or unwittingly through Ted Berrigan. This book shows you how.

Rating:
Summary: So going around gibberish, more like it
Review: What holds Mr. Berrigan's poetry back from greatness? The same thing that holds back a sales receipt from Kentucky Fried Chicken. There is, simply, no poetry in Ted Berrigan's poetry. What deadened his sense of acumen so I cannot say; he surely had access to the steadfast verse of his closest inspiration, William Wordsworth, but whereas Wordsworth's verses puff with gusty brilliance, Berrigan's crinkle up like burning paper hats. He must have read John Berryman, for Berryman's influence is everywhere apparent, but he has maintained none of Berryman's awareness of the majestry of language. And, while I have read in critical journals of repute that he read many French authors, Ted Berrigan does not display even the faintest tinge of Continental eloquence or dignity. A pitiable effort.