Many people read through a book of poetry just as they do a novel or an anthology, but “reading” poetry that way fails to deliver poetry’s main intent: to make readers enjoy a feeling they cannot derive from the words alone.
I love poetry, but to arrive at that feeling of joy, I read each one through four times: once to get the essence and syntax, the next to get the rhythm and match the poet’s syntax to my own, once out loud and a final time to listen for the rhythm and feeling in my own voice as I read the poem.
I fell in love with Carl Dennis’s poems when I first encountered them in one of the online poetry sites. Since then, I have purchased almost all of his books and treasure them all.
Dennis brilliantly constructs his poems to lead readers in one way before quickly, often subtly, changing direction into a wonderful juxtaposition. Many of the works cause me to smile, but most just make me stop, think and feel, exactly the things the poet is trying to do.
I do not consider this latest work to by Dennis’s best, yetI have still marked many of the poems as ones I want to put into my own poetry notebook so thatI can revisit them often.
If you are lucky enough to come across any of Carl Dennis’s books, get them! If you can’t find any, if your local library doesn’t have them (shame on them),and if you don’t want to take a chance with your money by going to amazon, at least check out his work on the poetry and poetry foundation websites. ( )

Many people read through a book of poetry just as they do a novel or an anthology, but “reading” poetry that way fails to deliver poetry’s main intent: to make readers enjoy a feeling they cannot derive from the words alone.
I love poetry, but to arrive at that feeling of joy, I read each one through four times: once to get the essence and syntax, the next to get the rhythm and match the poet’s syntax to my own, once out loud and a final time to listen for the rhythm and feeling in my own voice as I read the poem.
I fell in love with Carl Dennis’s poems when I first encountered them in one of the online poetry sites. Since then, I have purchased almost all of his books and treasure them all.
Dennis brilliantly constructs his poems to lead readers in one way before quickly, often subtly, changing direction into a wonderful juxtaposition. Many of the works cause me to smile, but most just make me stop, think and feel, exactly the things the poet is trying to do.
I do not consider this latest work to by Dennis’s best, yetI have still marked many of the poems as ones I want to put into my own poetry notebook so thatI can revisit them often.
If you are lucky enough to come across any of Carl Dennis’s books, get them! If you can’t find any, if your local library doesn’t have them (shame on them),and if you don’t want to take a chance with your money by going to amazon, at least check out his work on the poetry and poetry foundation websites. ( )

The latest work from one of the best contemporary poets in the English-speaking world. As usual Dennis strikes the perfect balance between literary and historical allusions, and attention to the ordinary world of lived experience. A deeply philosophical and entertaining collection of poems. ( )