The Probable World

by Lawrence Raab

The critically acclaimed poetauthor of What We Don't Know About Each Other, a National Book Award finalist, presents an innovative new anthology of poetry in which he explores such diverse topics as the nature of friendship, space aliens, dreams, high school, and more. Original.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not ground breaking, but very good in parts and definitely overall solid. Raab has a very conversational, speculative, casual tone. Mostly it works and makes for an enjoyable and insightful read. Though some of the poems, to me, came off as amateurish and trite. Also, poems about poems, while sometimes amusing, are a bit too "meta" for me, and there are a few of these in the book. If there were half stars I would give this 2.5. But I shall give it 3 because in the picture of the author on the back he is sitting on the ground and his pants are dirty and he has nerdy classes and he's holding a silly looking dog. Which I find charming.

Also, I thought the poem about the dude murdering his wife and then coming home and feeling guilty and pondering suicide, but not being able to actually do it, because of the presence of his pet dog, who is fretting, was amusing. Also amusing: the poem is called "Love". Heh. The moral of the poem is: you can kill, but you still have to come home to puppies.

[Matt Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection starts strong with "Why the Truth Is Hidden," "Love" & "Respect," but these superb poems fizzle into subpar pieces as mediocre as the schools in Pittsfield ("High School Days") with prosaic lines dull as anyone who'd say, "I thought Henry Mancini was a great composer" ("My Life Before I Knew It").

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite poem was My Life Before I Knew It. I also like Vanishing.