Rain

by Jon Woodward, Wave Books (Manufacturer)

"Woodward seeks news rather desperately from outer space-and finds it in that huge vacancy, the human heart."-Jorie Graham
Short, energetic, interlinked poems describe the daily and sometimes surprisingly routine nature of grief. Relying on youthful sincerity rather than nostalgic rumination, this 2005 Verse Prize winner is a sweet, sharp, and honest elegy.

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jon Woodward can be found (to a degree) at jonwoodward.net.

Reviews

[Adam Feng]

Lack of punctuations and titles lead to frequent syntactical confusion, yet it remains comprehensible.

Major hit or miss when it comes to the various poems.

3/5

[Kaylee]

❤️

[C]

Let me say something going in to this review that affected my enjoyment/score quite a bit: I loathe reading any writing without punctuation. That's on me, that's a personal hang-up... But it is a big pet peeve for me. So bear in mind that if that is not a stumbling block for you, your enjoyment of this collection will most likely be much higher than mine.

Do you ever finish a book and then come on to Goodreads to leave a review and see what others have written about the same book and feel (for lack of a better term) stupid?

I didn't glean all of the complex layers of meaning from this collection that others did at all. I would say that 90% of that comes from my struggling through the lack of punctuation, sadly enough. I just didn't feel like I had a grasp of what the poet was trying to say, though. Most of the time, I was bewildered far more than excited. It was only the last section of the book where I started to feel my way along these walls of poetry and see where I felt he was going... (It probably goes without saying that this is my favorite section of the book.)

I probably owe this collection a second chance at some point, but right now my verdict is that it is a style that just isn't for me.

[Joe]

A book of poems in a virtually uniform form--3 stanzas of five lines each, no punctuation, severe enjambment resulting in syntactical fuzzyness.

For reasons I can't/won't fully express here, this book appealed to me. Perhaps I'm a sucker for beautiful changes, a dexterity in shifting tonal registers and image sets--one thing suddenly becoming another. And while there is an element of arbitrariness in some of the objects chosen for change, it the consistency/insistency of this movement that make it's own kind of more elegant argument. Which is...I dunno...I dunno...something about the object & the structure which it occupies?

Either way, I tend to like the ambition/attitude of books put out by WAVE press but find myself disappointed by the execution of the work--but things seem to strike a firmer balance here.

[?]

Overall an interesting book which is able to use a form to the best of its abilities. While I think personally, the flattening of the overall tone for the commitment to form is a sacrifice that it ultimately cannot pay. Though it is undeniable that at some points is has some amazing flashes of light which illuminate greatly through this book. And yes, I see this as a book as the sections are not too meaningfully different, and best enjoyed over a long afternoon. A very strong 3 and a great way to inspire one's own writing though style and that alone is why I'd be more likely to recommend this book more than most.

[Benjamin Niespodziany]

"we're going to need someplace / to go when we're done / here it doesn't need to / be heaven but I'll need / you there with me"

A series of (largely) five line stanzas with no punctuation or capitalization, feeling like a steady gentle rainfall. I loved every page.

"if my body // is found I want them / to pack it with strawberries / I want my casket lined / with strawberries I want them / to bulldoze strawberries over me"

[Sabrina Blandon]

Wasn’t my fav poetry book I read but I liked how he wrote poems of 5 words per stanza and there are 5 lines in every stanza. 3 stanzas total per page which is part of the project we discussed in class

[Aster]

not bad, not life changing
generative project has something to do with 5 lines with 5 words?

[Bradley Harrison]

"this weather's the actual God / or at least it's that / honest moment before the concert / when the orchestra tunes itself / although much longer in duration"

an excerpt from, "Rain"

[Rita]

Five word line form consistent through book- occasionally works wonders and feels natural, frequently feels tortured. Grief and death are major themes.