The Frank Poems

by C.A. Conrad, Holger Ernst

Bilingual German/English edition.

German translations by Holger, with assistance from Jonas Slonacker and Sigrid Mayer.

Cover art by Cathleen Miller.

Genres: Poetry

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

CAConrad’s childhood included selling cut flowers along the highway for his mother and helping her shoplift. He is the author of 9 books of poetry and essays the latest While Standing In Line For Death is forthcoming from Wave Books in September 2017. He is a Pew Fellow and has also received fellowships from Lannan Foundation, MacDowell Colony, Headlands Center for the Arts, Banff, RADAR, Flying Ojbect and Ucross. For his books, essays, and details on the documentary The Book of Conrad (Delinquent Films, 2016), please visit http://CAConrad.blogspot.com

Reviews

[Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisted. Bizarre. Wondrous. Freaky. Mysterious. Awesome.

I only hope there's more Frank Poems on their way.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book of Frank is one of my favorite books. Ever. I had to grab the earlier chapbook. An origin story of sorts. CA does not disappoint.

[John Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first encounter with the work of CA Conrad came while as I took a piss in one of SPD's closet-like, broadside-cluttered bathrooms. Posted just above and to the left of the toilet, just below a Bernstein piece, its justified full prose immediately caught my eye. In stark contrast with some of the most "quietest" (forgive my appropriation of Mr. Silliman's term) poems festooning these walls, Conrad's work struck me as hilariously tongue in cheek, yet deadly serious. Offering the poet's services as a sort of karmic money laundering service, I couldn't help but read the piece as a send-up of several realities, ranging from the depressing to the merely unfortunate: the abysmal economic prospects of the career of poet, the necessity of self-advertisement endemic to said career and the sometimes hippie-fried legacy of California art, just to name a few.

The Frank Poems is a dark, touching and laugh-inducing confirmation of that impression. Managing to capture an entire life in a mere twenty tiny poems, it depicts a profoundly unwanted child who grows up to be an equally unwanted husband who still manages to find some kind of joy in the possibilities of the imagined. Written with the kind of deft and obvious confidence that immediately distinguishes any work of worth, this chapbook has only whetted my appetite for more of Conrad's work.

My only complaint is that it was too damn short! Thankfully, the edition offers facing-page German translations I can't wait to afflict with both my limited capacity for Deutsch and my fondness for homophonic translation.

[C.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHAT AN ASSHOLE THIS POET IS!
Yet I should like to take him out for a chocolate ice cream and shove it in his face with Love.
I am You and You are Me and We are All Together.
Said John Lennon, only because it's hard to believe Paul having much to say.

There are samples of the book available:
http://CAConrad.blogspot.com

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank is a deviant. I love him.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've reviewed this marvelous book here: http://galatearesurrection9.blogspot....,

And that's all I'm going to say.