Common Sense

by Ted Greenwald

First published in 1979, Common Sense evinces a spare street-wise style rooted in the vernacular of the city. Now something of a cult classic, the book is recognized as an understated masterpiece, pushing at the edges of spoken word. This is the language of everyday, brought onto the page in such a way that we never lose the flow of speech and at the same time we become attuned to its many registers—musical, emotional, ironic. Ted Greenwald's work has been associated with several major veins of American poetry, including the Language movement and the New York School, but it remains unclassifiable. An online reader's companion will be available at tedgreenwald.site.wesleyan.edu.

Genres: Poetry

195 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Tim Genetti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy Ted Greenwald's poems. So much so that I push them away knowing that I'd finish the book before savoring. To be honest, his poems are not for savoring because the rhythm and pacing will take you away. Ted Greenwald could be called an everyday writer. He wrote everyday within a certain timespan. The gems that arouse, mmmm. He, like a lot of poets, pull up the idea of being a poet that is "grounded." Maybe within the years he was writing, the Ivy School writers got more recognition for their work. Topics he pulls up could be construed as base. If poetry, as I find it, is about the grace of touch, you'll get plenty with in this book. He unleashed a mental rhythminin'

To assume a new character, when the old one wore/ Near me, so "lonely" when night. to darken/ Paired with polar stars sinking over Paris/ Moves in over the dusty coast/ and dreamed up a girl "deja vue"/ Out. In years days say hours,"

[Louis Cabri]

There's a poem-kind (among several) in this book. A kind organized around a particular "hook" refrain (ritornello) specific to each poem. The poem then plays itself out on that refrain -- expands it, contracts it, flips it over, etc.

F'rinsestance, "Jiggles." "Jiggles"' refrain performs variations on parenthetical phrases "(my)" and "(or is it)":

(or is it) (my) ,
eyes settle on a cloud
or my (is it)
eyes settle
or on (is it)
my , eyes settle in (is it) a cloud
on or in
a settle
(my) cloud (or is it)

Another example: in "Fat Lines, Turn" the hook or refrain's simply the repeated word "turn":

fat lines, turn
through the first turn
the car makes turning
along the highway
the turn a solid white
line says "don't turn [....]

In "And, Hinges," it's the peculiarly specific repeated use of a comma after the conjunction "and":

And, the drain clogs, when I shower, with my hair,
...........................
and, she stood, laughing [...]
...........................
hide behind a tree, and, light bark late, keeping the neighbours late,
and, you ask me "have you seen the latest news from Paris?"

Variations on the "and," refrain include adding and subtracting commas at other places.

In "Modern Times," it's the interjection "ah," which in the last stanza of this page-long poem humourously comes up twice after some straight-forwardly flat line-long sentences:

did someone just sigh
(was that a used door)
could you lend me five bucks
(a dinner just what I need)
I walk through the park
the trees moan
I'm reminded, ah, of the moon
something else to wor, ah, ry about
wonder how long

[Joe Milazzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"love repeats itself in repairs"