Young Americans

by Jordan Castro

YOUNG AMERICANS is Jordan Castro's debut full-length poetry collection.

"Before you read these poems: go and check out what the New Yorker is pushing as poetry. Then open up Young Americans, seems obvious what Jordan Castro is doing is revolutionary, he expressing emotions through poetry that have never been done before. The style, the way the subject matter is portrayed, even the meter, are new." - Noah Cicero (author of The Human War, The Insurgent, and more)

“If you are a person who doesn’t really know what they are doing and you would like to read about another person who doesn’t really know what they are doing either, I recommend reading this poetry book. I enjoyed reading these poems. Or something.” - Chris Killen (author of The Bird Room)

“I read these poems three times in one night, then put the duvet over my head and held my knees for a while. It’s good when something makes sense. I really really liked these poems.” - Ben Brooks (author of Grow Up)

Genres: Poetry

110 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2012

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this entire book in approximately 1/2 an hour while stoned & lying in fetal position. Felt an 'extreme' amount of 'empathy'/ ability to 'relate' to the monotony, melancholy & 'magic' of Castro's day-to-day life. Really enjoyed that despite being written in a minimalistic style all of the poems were rather emotional (at least for/to me). I also enjoyed the 'selected tweets' edited by Megan Boyle & Mallory Whitten. Kept thinking, "don't hate, commiserate" inexplicably after finishing the book. Looking forward to 'If I Really Wanted to Feel Happy I Would Feel Happy Already,' coming out later this year.

[Alejandro Saint-Barthélemy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old-fashioned already (Nothing ages worse and quicker than what was once called "modern". [Salvador Dalí, a reactionary at heart who would have changed all the paintings from his century to a 20cmx20cm lovely Vermeer]) for it being a little bit too Alt-Litty at times, it is kind of kool proto-NeXTmodernism (the cover is the best thing about this book, and God knows I love Beauty).

Favourite poem:
https://genius.com/Jordan-castro-comm...


P.S. In my poetry book Aloha Mahalo I am a little bit more modern, one of the reasons to be so it's because I use emojis such as this one: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .
Anyway, I'll eventually buy this book for my shelves, 'cause nice, interesting, kool, and not nearly as bad as what's posing nowadays as good poetry (Pulitzer Prizes make me far more sick than gmail poets, since they are anointed as good/serious/important/etc. poets when a fucking single line by Pessoa-Rimbaud-Lautréamont-Baudelaire-Lorca-etc. is better than the complete works of all of them altogether).

ヽ(´ー｀)┌

[Jay Gabler]

I wrote ten paragraphs for an opening review of this book on The Tangential.

[Zach Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

readable, honest, and compelling. highly recommend

[Marzi Margo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that Jordan Castro's debut full-length poetry collection is one of the greatest and most important poetry collections of its time.

[Jeff Hoiland · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book seems extremely relatable to me. Feels ‘so honest.’ Currently thinking of the words ‘kind, caring, fucked, nice, and funny.’ Thought something like ‘this could be sad or funny. awesome’ pretty often while reading it seemed. Thinking ‘keeps it real’ in a way I might have applied to a rapper at some point in my life who ‘keeps it real’, only I maybe find this books to be more relatable and something like ‘considerate’ or even ‘more real’ or something.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think maybe I am too old and too sober to properly appreciate this book.

[Connor Ong]

Read this in an hour and a half.

I hated it just about as much as I hated my life during those 90 minutes.

And, in consideration of this book, that seems fitting.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Castro expands my conception of what poetry can be in these poems. The cadence, the structure, the thought processes, all of it are just things I didn’t expect to be poems…but it works. I dug these poems on a fundamental level. I dug the casualness, I dug the hopeful mixed with hopeless tone, I dug it all. Or something.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved this book immensely and still do

[Jonathan Lee B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young Americans is watching people get on and off airplanes and airplanes take off and land.

[Muumuu House · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://muumuuhouse.com/jc.poetry3.html

[A Sad Friendless Person · Rating 5 out of 5]

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