Disfortune

by Joe Wenderoth

Disfortune is not in the mainstream of American poetic speech, nor is it easily placed into any of the well-known poetic speech-camps that have arisen on its margins. Terse, haunting lyrics expose the irreducible contradictions of living, wherein "the talking-singing, the whole talking-/singing ball of yarn, begins to unravel." Deceptively casual in tone, these poems offer startling confrontations with "the unoriginal/oblivion," with "the contrived delicacy/of what is emptied and kept." Joe Wenderoth sees "fortune" as the mute history of events proceeding toward the ultimate security; his poems arise from "disfortune," from the need "Just to sing the song that's kept you/quiet/all this time." This book is a rare occurrence, marking not only a new intimacy with the world, but also a remembering of the determined motion of intimacy itself.

Genres: Poetry

84 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 1995

About the author

Joe Wenderoth grew up near Baltimore. He is the author of No Real Light (Wave Books, 2007), The Holy Spirit of Life: Essays Written for John Ashcroft's Secret Self (Verse Press 2005) and Letters to Wendy's (Verse Press 2000). Wesleyan University Press published his first two books of poems: Disfortune (1995) and It Is If I Speak (2000). He is Associate Professor of English at the University of California, Davis.

For more information on this author, go to:
http://www.wavepoetry.com/authors/46-...

Reviews

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was quick to write off this book as vague and indulgently morose when I first checked it out of the library. A few weeks after, I came back to it and found a few poems that really impressed me, "Aesthetics of the Bases Loaded Walk" especially. But I still think that most of the book is willfully impenetrable. Inventive, but not interestingly so.

[Ethan Ksiazek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like Wenderoth has this watershed effect when it comes to broaching the stifling ennui of chronic fatigue. I really like how sleep-centric some of his stuff is and how we share a subtle and washed alarm of finding our bodies humming like the generator does when we awaken.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sucker for debut poetry collections and this one did not disappoint. The tiniest poem in the book, featured below.


Prayer


fix me, a blast

[Kyle Muntz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smart, sharp poetry that feels ultra-contemporary even though it was written in 1995. Going with 4 stars because I think there's some room for improvement from this first collection , but I'm going right from this to another of his books.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's no "Letters to Wendy's" but a nice debut nonetheless. Wenderoth's poetry has never done much for me, but I give his complete work a nod of mild approval.