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In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus: New and Selected Poems, 1955–2007
2008 American Library Association Notable Book in Poetry For more than half a century, readers and listeners have taken special pleasure in the poetry of X. J. Kennedy. In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus is an ample gathering of his best memorable songs, startling lyrics, poems that tell poignant stories, character studies that vie with those of Edwin Arlington Robinson. A master of verbal music, Kennedy has long been praised for his wit and humor; as this collection reveals, many of his poems also reach surprising depths and heights. Donald Hall comments, "many of Kennedy's poems are wit itself. His wit is his way of understanding. No one else writing is capable of the effects in which Kennedy specializes." This book skims the cream from several slim volumes and six past collections including the prize-winning Nude Descending a Staircase, Cross Ties, and The Lords of Misrule . It restores to print over fifty poems unavailable for decades and adds more than two dozen new poems collected for the first time. Kennedy has long occupied a unique place in American poetry; In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus now offers the first comprehensive collection to span his entire career.
- GenresPoetry
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 20, 2010
This book changed my mind about X.J. Kennedy.
The poems of his which I had previously read, mostly for school, all dated to the 1950s and 60s. I still didn't like those ones. Not only were they often dated, but largely immature and self-indulgent. Reading them was like being stuck next to a stranger who won't stop telling you about his personal problems. Oh, you have issues with the Church? Women don't like you as much as you think they should? The System is broken? Life sucks? Tell it to your shrink, X.J., because I'm not paying to hear about how bitter you are.
What kept me reading was Kennedy's skill with language. Complex internal structure, interesting word choices, carefully crafted but playful extended metaphors, flashes of humor -- actually a lot of humor, but too often undermined but the overwhelming bitterness about practically everything. And I'm glad I did finish the collection, because I found out that Kennedy really is an excellent poet. He just needed age to give him a little more compassion, a little patience, a little more nuance and uncertainty.
Most of the poems I like best are from his 1992 Dark Horses
At the Last Rites for Two Hotrodders
Sheeted in steel, embedded face to face,
They idle now in meaningless embrace,
The only ones at last who had the nerve
To meet head-on, not chicken out and swerve.
Inseparable, in one closed car they roll
Down the stoned aisle and on out to a hole,
Wheeled by the losers: six of fledgling beard,
Black-jacketed and glum, who also steered
Toward absolute success with total pride,
But, inches from it, felt, and turned aside.
On Being Accused of Wit
Not so. I'm witless. Often in Despair
At long-worked botches I must throw away,
A line or two worth keeping all too rare.
Blind chance not wit entices words to stay
And recognizing luck is artifice
That comes unlearned. The rest is taking pride
In daily labor. This and only this.
On keyboards sweat alone makes fingers glide.
Witless, that juggler rich in discipline
Who brought the Christchild all he had for gift,
Flat on his back with beatific grin
Keeping six slow-revolving balls aloft;
Witless, La Tour, that painter none too bright,
His draftman's compass waiting in the wings,
Measuring how a lantern stages light
Until a room overflows with rings.
Emily Dickinson Leaves a Message
Because I could not stop for Breath
Past Altitudes --- of Earth ---
Upon a reel of Tape I leave
Directions to my Hearth ---
For All who will not let me lie
Unruffled in escape ---
Speak quickly --- or I'll intercept
Your Message with --- a Beep.
Though often I had dialed and rung
The Bastion of the Bee ---
The Answer I had hungered for
Was seldom Home --- to me ---
These poems show the characteristic that I like best about his later poems: hard work, modesty, appreciation. I wish he'd give up talking about politics and religion; I think he cares too much there to write well. Overall a fine sampling of a long career, including some previously unpublished works.
The poems of his which I had previously read, mostly for school, all dated to the 1950s and 60s. I still didn't like those ones. Not only were they often dated, but largely immature and self-indulgent. Reading them was like being stuck next to a stranger who won't stop telling you about his personal problems. Oh, you have issues with the Church? Women don't like you as much as you think they should? The System is broken? Life sucks? Tell it to your shrink, X.J., because I'm not paying to hear about how bitter you are.
What kept me reading was Kennedy's skill with language. Complex internal structure, interesting word choices, carefully crafted but playful extended metaphors, flashes of humor -- actually a lot of humor, but too often undermined but the overwhelming bitterness about practically everything. And I'm glad I did finish the collection, because I found out that Kennedy really is an excellent poet. He just needed age to give him a little more compassion, a little patience, a little more nuance and uncertainty.
Most of the poems I like best are from his 1992 Dark Horses
At the Last Rites for Two Hotrodders
Sheeted in steel, embedded face to face,
They idle now in meaningless embrace,
The only ones at last who had the nerve
To meet head-on, not chicken out and swerve.
Inseparable, in one closed car they roll
Down the stoned aisle and on out to a hole,
Wheeled by the losers: six of fledgling beard,
Black-jacketed and glum, who also steered
Toward absolute success with total pride,
But, inches from it, felt, and turned aside.
On Being Accused of Wit
Not so. I'm witless. Often in Despair
At long-worked botches I must throw away,
A line or two worth keeping all too rare.
Blind chance not wit entices words to stay
And recognizing luck is artifice
That comes unlearned. The rest is taking pride
In daily labor. This and only this.
On keyboards sweat alone makes fingers glide.
Witless, that juggler rich in discipline
Who brought the Christchild all he had for gift,
Flat on his back with beatific grin
Keeping six slow-revolving balls aloft;
Witless, La Tour, that painter none too bright,
His draftman's compass waiting in the wings,
Measuring how a lantern stages light
Until a room overflows with rings.
Emily Dickinson Leaves a Message
Because I could not stop for Breath
Past Altitudes --- of Earth ---
Upon a reel of Tape I leave
Directions to my Hearth ---
For All who will not let me lie
Unruffled in escape ---
Speak quickly --- or I'll intercept
Your Message with --- a Beep.
Though often I had dialed and rung
The Bastion of the Bee ---
The Answer I had hungered for
Was seldom Home --- to me ---
These poems show the characteristic that I like best about his later poems: hard work, modesty, appreciation. I wish he'd give up talking about politics and religion; I think he cares too much there to write well. Overall a fine sampling of a long career, including some previously unpublished works.
October 22, 2008
Title sounds like the start of a dirty pig-latin limerick, but really, this is a "serious" collection. These poems rhyme and keep time just like his trademark light verse, yet this feels like no rhymin' I've ever read. The only comparison I can make is a hybrid of the laff-a-minute drollery of Wendy Cope and the trickster sensuality of Alan Dugan. Topics include Emily Dickinson's answering-machine message, dealing with panhandlers, walking around nude, and death. Lots of death.
Plus, Kennedy's verse is neither blank nor free, which seems to irritate snobs. I love it.
Here's one of my favorites, about... October! (yes I know he cheats the meter with a bad adverb, but that's part of its charm):
Plus, Kennedy's verse is neither blank nor free, which seems to irritate snobs. I love it.
Here's one of my favorites, about... October! (yes I know he cheats the meter with a bad adverb, but that's part of its charm):
October
Flat-tired, the year sets out red roadside flares.
An olive football in a casual toss
Ovals its chain of overthrows across
A wind-stirred dry martini. But the air's
As of two minds: to thunder or forgive?
Clouds hold their fire. The parching widow's-bless
Purses weak lips. Trees' signals of distress
Turn more flamboyantly demonstrative.
Were we two stout perennials at heart
Who knows what light we'd make of time's abuse.
Sleep near me. Be a tough nut to work loose
Before harsh hoarfrost wrenches us apart.
December 5, 2008
A masterful collection, both eloquent ("Cross Ties" is a favorite) and humorous. If you get a chance to see him read in person, do go. He is one of the best.
December 16, 2022
Challenging and worthwhile
April 15, 2024
Reminded me of Derek Mahon, whose work I love.
December 3, 2025
Endlessly inventive. Clever and funny. Great rhyme and rhythm.
October 9, 2014
X.J. Kennedy has been writing a long time. This is a great selected poems, though I wish more of his light verse for children had been included. Nevertheless, there is a great variety of poems here: comic, tender, thoughtful, off-the-cuff, and deeply considered. I highly recommend it. Here is one of my favorites:
On a Child Who Lived One Minute
Into a world where children shriek like suns
Sundered from other suns on their arrival,
She stared, and saw the waiting shape of evil,
But couldn't take its meaning in at once,
So fresh her understanding, and so fragile.
Her first breath drew a fragrance from the air
And put it back. However hard her agile
Heart danced, however full the surgeon's satchel
Of healing stuff, a blackness tiptoed in her
And snuffed the only candle of her castle.
Oh, let us do away with elegiac
Drivel. Who can restore a thing so brittle,
So new in any jingle? Still I marvel
That, making light of mountainloads of logic,
So much could stay a moment in so little.
August 28, 2008
some of the poems are very clear and interesting..
and quite frankly... some i just don't get and
wish i did.
and quite frankly... some i just don't get and
wish i did.
August 7, 2008
Might have gotten more stars if it wasn't so rhymey. However, some great writing, images, word use and poem titles.
February 24, 2011
This was one of the 2008 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews