![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Review - Some Kind of Ride
Jan. 4th, 2008 10:09 pmToday, I got my copy of Some Kind of Ride in the mail.
For those who do not know, Brian Andreas is a local Iowa poet. Now, I'm not the type to like someones work simply because they happen to live near me, but in this case the proximity caused me to be exposed to his work. Once I had read a few poems, I was hooked on how he views the world. He writes a form of poetry that is part observation, part philosophy and part story (similar to Russell Edson in many ways). He also illustrates the stories and sometimes makes sculptures of them. The line is called Story People, and I find it very intriguing.
So, getting back to the book...
This is the eighth book in his series, but does not require the earlier books to make sense of it. What I like is that as he gets deeper into his art, there are an increasing number of poems that really hit home for me. Maybe it's his growing skill as a poet, maybe it's just that I'm older. I don't know... What I dislike is his art style (I find it sloppy). It's annoying that he has such excellent writing combined with such irritating art. However, when I look at the poems themselves, this book had several that I found excellent. Since there is no way that I could describe his poems half as well as he writes them, here are a few examples that I think show his philosophic, romantic and humorous sides (fair use covers limited excerpts in reviews, right?):
( cut for those who dislike pseudo-poetry )
For those who do not know, Brian Andreas is a local Iowa poet. Now, I'm not the type to like someones work simply because they happen to live near me, but in this case the proximity caused me to be exposed to his work. Once I had read a few poems, I was hooked on how he views the world. He writes a form of poetry that is part observation, part philosophy and part story (similar to Russell Edson in many ways). He also illustrates the stories and sometimes makes sculptures of them. The line is called Story People, and I find it very intriguing.
So, getting back to the book...
This is the eighth book in his series, but does not require the earlier books to make sense of it. What I like is that as he gets deeper into his art, there are an increasing number of poems that really hit home for me. Maybe it's his growing skill as a poet, maybe it's just that I'm older. I don't know... What I dislike is his art style (I find it sloppy). It's annoying that he has such excellent writing combined with such irritating art. However, when I look at the poems themselves, this book had several that I found excellent. Since there is no way that I could describe his poems half as well as he writes them, here are a few examples that I think show his philosophic, romantic and humorous sides (fair use covers limited excerpts in reviews, right?):
( cut for those who dislike pseudo-poetry )
