Kimonos in the Closet

by David Shumate

“These are enormously arresting, odd, wryly humorous, gripping poems. And the variety of subject matter is astounding. I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed reading a book so much.”—David Budbill

Genres: Poetry

62 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Melanie Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really would like to rate this one at a solid 4.5, but the system doesn't give half stars. ;) There are some wonderfully quirky prose poems and a great variety of subject matter and settings explored (although death and love are the two most prominent, followed by landscape). Some of the futuristic poems tickled my funny bones and then (as with the best poetry) made me think about them long after I'd closed the volume. I'd heartily recommend this collection for poets, particularly authors who are interested in writing (more) prose poems.

[Michael Brockley · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Kimonos in the Closet" is another superb volume of prose poems by an author of the first rank in the practice of this art. Do you still have horses?

[Joey Trusk · Rating 4 out of 5]

List of Poems I would revisit; (page, name)

20. The Races of Man
31. An Acre
34. Broom
36. The Meek
37. The Lost Arts
38. Rain Dance
40. Taking the Psychological Teat
42. A Good Idea
44. The Landscape Painting of Cheap Motels
46. The Acres of The Moon
47. An Inventory of Moons
51. Moving Away from Homes
54. After my Birthday

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shumate is always very charming and ... is droll the right word? Not funny, exactly, or even witty, but the sort of poem-spinner who always is looking for a smile. For example, "she refuses to model for abstract artists anymore" ha ha ha. My problem is, he always starts so big. Nearly every prose-poem here begins with giants and myths and heroes and celestial bodies: Troy, Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Khan, "entire mountains are aflame", that sort of thing. This can get wearing given that he seems to want these gigantic allusions to be whittled down into lapidary page poems, and you're left with a feeling of disjunction, of wanting something smaller and less obvious. But I suppose this is in the grand tradition of poetry. One of the more interesting moments here is "If You Hire a Poet to Draw a Map", which suggests that poets are by their very nature fictive if not liars ("He'll sketch in highways where it pleases him"). This is news to me.

[Jan Moens · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

[Lawrence M. Kutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, fun, witty, and insightful. Absolutely unique.

[Chris]

As exquisite as Shumate's other outings

David Shumate tends to transport me to snapshot universes that I just might have experienced in a parallel life, and he does it with such wit and beauty of prose, I can't help but always feel a strange nostalgia. Highly recommended.