They Don't Kill You Because They're Hungry, They Kill You Because They're Full

by Mark Bibbins

Honored as a "Best Poetry Book of the Year" by Publishers Weekly "The book's a little crazy, packed with air quotes and brackets, jokes and condemnations, forms that explode across the page. Crazily enough, it's also packed with truth.”—NPR “The voice of this third book from Bibbins is marked and numbed by the onslaught of American media and politics that saturate the Internet, television, radio, and ‘the way things are going, children/ will have to upgrade to more amusing.’ Much like advertisements or news stories vying for viewer’s attention, the book intentionally overwhelms, eschewing sections; the author instead differentiates the poems by repetition, creating a sort of echo chamber, similar to the way viral information cycles through social media platforms.”— Publishers Weekly, starred review "[A] hilarious send-up of contemporary values and an alarm bell of sorts, directing attention to all that is so sinister in our civilization.”— American Poets "Whip-smart and wickedly funny, They Don't Kill You is Bibbins's most authoritative and self-possessed collection to date."— Boston Review The poems in Mark Bibbins's breakthrough third book are formally innovative and socially alert. Roving across the weird human landscape of modern politics, media-exacerbated absurdity, and questionable social conventions, this collection counters dread with wit, chaos with clarity, and reminds us that suffering is "small//compared to what?" Mark Bibbins teaches in the graduate writing programs at The New School and Columbia University, and edits the poetry section of The Awl. He lives in New York City.

Genres: Poetry

105 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2014

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book of poetry, which had been recommended several places. Some of them are bizarre, some are hilarious, and my poor husband had to hear several of them read aloud because I couldn't just keep them to myself.

Bibbins writes with poetic commentary on the present day - terrorism, politics, fundamentalism, friendship, community.

My absolutely favorite poems in this volume are a set, "Pat Robertson Transubstantiation Engine No. 1-6." Luckily they can all be read online at The Literary Review. If you are a super fan of The 700 Club, clicking on that link will just make you mad. If you need a laugh about fundamentalism, highly recommended. It is very sacrilegious in the very best way. Phrases like "syphilitic oatmeal snowman," "O heavenly flogger,""the sweet caul fat of Falwell," and so on.

Other favorites:

-Unity, Utility, Ubiquity
"if you're going to carry your gorgeous head around in a sack...."

-Factory
"That we were broken
That we lingered near a broken factory
That we had broken"

-Junior National Treasure Cemetery
"in case you are promiscuous / or merely forgetful
I've carved your name on half the trees
of this burnt forest / to help you find home"

-Our Fairy Decorator
"See how I settle for less.

[Jeffrey (Akiva) Savett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bibbins's poetry is wild and smart and very funny. If you're a lover of clear narrative or lyric poetry, poems which tell of an encounter in a doctor's waiting room, or paint the image of a young woman gracefully pushing her wheelchair through a parking lot in the rain (see Ted Kooser), these poems are not for you. Bibbins lives on the edge of traditional intelligibility. His poems are the children of Strand and Bly, Simic and Young: surreal, intuitive, inventive, and sometimes frustrating. Many times, the reader is supposed to be frustrated. Many times, Bibbins's goal is to literally CREATE frustration amuck as much as mirror it. As the note on the back of the book points out, "these poems counter dread with wit, chaos with clarity (and sometimes more chaos)."

So why four stars instead of five? This was a really good book. Many of these poems are great. They won lots of awards and acclaim. But ultimately, for me these poems live too much on their own surface to LOVE. They are incredibly self-aware, they drip with irony; Bibbins is in NO danger of being called sentimental. But I believe one can develop a poetics too far in the other direction--these poems feel like they were composed by a hyper-kinetic and acute brain unattached to a living, breathing body. It's how I tend to feel sometimes when I read David Foster Wallace's fiction (not his essays notably). So I didn't come away from any of these poems saying "whoa…what an eye he has" or "my goodness, that was beautiful." One finishes a Bibbins poem with a smirk in appreciation of his cleverness and intelligence, and because of what isn't written as much as what is. And that smirk is both a good and bad thing.

Oh yeah. I LOVE the title.

[Meg]

some wonderfully sharp lines

[Renzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know much about poetry; gave it a shot once, twice, made it through leaves of grass and ended up somewhere between the flowers of evil and Paris spleen. Some writers appear poetic at times, like Nietzsche, or whomever wrote the poetry-like parts in the Bible. Capital P poetry, though, it's probably something else entirely, right?

In recent weeks I've discovered the little poetry books available for a few bucks used on amazon. I order one every few days. Ted Hughes, Thomas Sayers Ellis, John Koethe, Mark Bibbins... They show up unannounced, like, oh hey, it's you! The books are small and short, hundred pages or so. I'll read a few poems in the morning, aloud, not shifting my mind into reverse to reread, nor putting it in park to look up an unfamiliar word, simply experiencing the sensation of reading poetry. I'm getting the hang of it.

They Don't Kill You Because They're Hungry, They Kill You Because They're Full, is a gritty little book that, having gotten into my subconscious, makes me wonder how different of a person I might be now had I read it as a teen. Probably not much, as I was already poring over the verses of Jello Biafra from a tender age. Does that count?

I'm giving it four stars. After a re-read, with word lookups, and after I read a few more gritty little poem books for context, I may up it to five.

Here is an example.

Pat Robertson Transubstantiation Engine No. 2

Well it turns out I'm totally activated
by donations. All you have

to say is the magic word,
ISRAEL, and everyone goes crazy.

If we didn't abuse the Bible
it would cease to exist. O heavenly

flogger you should be watching me
on cable right now.

These clouds
are looking like trouble, in these clouds

I'm looking for trouble.
See there, in the clouds, boiling

like a syphilitic
oatmeal snowman, that's my face.

[Patricia Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard him read at #AWP14 and now I can’t get enough. He’s cheeky-smart, which is my favorite kind of smart. Also not afraid of political topics (and often mixes them with domestic images, which makes them all the more poignant). I especially appreciate the meta-study of language--spoonerisms, synesthesia, musical play. I keep reading lines I wish I had written.

Some of my favorite moments:

“I will happily call a whole
school of red herrings my family.”

“Autobiography is still
the sincerest form of flattery.”

“Someone started yelling cardinal
at the sight of blood soaking my sleeve.”

“Sickness draws a salary.”

“Prudence is a no-headed fish.”

“letter-shaped body parts”

“When Honky drops a hankie, please to pick it up.”

“What
makes an island: too few canoes.”

“roll around on me
like you’re putting out a fire.”

“as much as an umlaut
changes the sound of waves.”

“If we didn’t abuse the bible
it would cease to exist.”

“we’ve punched in the world
and suck the money out.”

“we’re willing to pay extra for a little suspense.”

“The only thing worse than advice is an opinion.”

“no girls in the porn store.”

“One way for me to care about something
is to stack it next to what I forgot.”

“How is anyone kissing anyone
possible”

The distance does the winking,
not the boat vanishing in it,
not the sun ramming through it.”

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really inventive, and yet down to earth. Mark Bibbins knows how to turn a phrase--and the twists and turns of the imagination make reading this volume pleasurable. Containing a couple of informal "series," including one in which the poem rather than the poet takes over meaning, and another archly funny sequence in the voice of televangelist Pat Robertson, THEY DON'T KILL YOU processes through the "stuff" of contemporary life while asking eternal questions. The final poem uses the "nontroversy" of Joaquin Phoenix being interviewed by Letterman as a metaphysical meditation on the operation of culture, how it distracts us from real inequities and injustice. A sly, sophisticated voice pervades this collection--able to make us laugh without taking pratfalls, able to dazzle us without phony pyrotechnics.

[Timothy Volpert · Rating 5 out of 5]

i feel like you should probably read a book of poems a couple times before you try to really speak on it, but i really loved this none the less. very insightful etc etc. didn't have any one poem that really gripped me like "The Devil You Don't" from his last book, but I consistently enjoyed all the poems in this book, where that one had more ups and downs.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contemporary poetry sometimes is lacking in playfulness and humor. The poems of Mark Bibbins are playful and funny, even at their darkest and most important. Publishers Weekly chose this book as one of the best poetry books of 2014 and it's easy to see why. It has a lot to say about our age of information bombardment and is highly recommended.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the read, with interesting language, images, and things to say. I was expecting something slightly more iconoclastic and violent, but wasn't disappointed with what I found. Possibly one of the more interesting titles for any book ever written.

[Hallie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are some cute lines, but overall there is a lack of fresh ideas. Some folks may like that, but given the title and reviews, I was expecting something original and thought provoking...someone had to point out that the emperor has no clothes.

[Philip Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh dammit! That's part of what I can say. The other part I can say is that I made a list of reasons in an undisclosed quantity of why this is a favorite. I will only share one of them with you, #15: I get to read this as much as I want for the rest of my life.

[Joshua Gage · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poems lacked cohesion and direction. There were a few witty one liners, but the lyricism and music that one expects from poetry simply wasn't there.

[giuseppe manley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3 and 1/2 by my estimation but it seemed kinder to round up.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book as a whole doesn’t speak to me, or the kind of poetry I generally tend to find engaging.
I didn’t feel as though Bibbins did much that was new and exciting in terms of language or poetics. That said, there were definitely some lines that I felt were particularly strong. I just wish more of his lines stuck out to me like that. Some of the poems felt more like short prose vignettes, such as “A Small Gesture of Gratitude,” the last poem in this collection, which lacked any kind of rhythm or intentionality; this lacking made it difficult for me to conceptualize such works as poems. As a few other reviewers also mentioned, I did feel an absence of any kind of cohesive voice throughout this book, which made my reading experience of it rather underwhelming.

[Alexei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely incredible. Easily in my top 3 personal favorite poetry books I have ever read. Reading it felt like being hit constantly with waves of different emotions, with dizzying intensity. The back cover of the book includes one of the ones I enjoyed the most, Burning Candygram. These choice lines are particularly marvelous to me:

"I refuse to argue---no energy--

and I won't grovel. I need you
to enjoy me

nearly as much as an umlaut
changes the sound of the waves."

Wow. Anyways 10/10 would read a thousand times.

[Amanda Nielsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Technically, 3.5 stars. A good first foray back into poetry for me. I’ll admit, I was drawn to it because of the title. There are several strong poems in here, many that fall into the contemporary poetry trap of random nouns strung together/nouns used as adjectives/adjectives used as nouns that is only sometimes effective and sometimes pretentious. BUT, I am inspired to work more poetry collections into my reading next year.

[Emilie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find the poetry itself particularly compelling. It seemed like the book was more reliant on concepts than the beauty of its lines, however, I didn't find the ideas presented interesting or unique. It seemed like the writer was critical of the world/mainstream culture in a way that felt whiny and immature.

[Debs · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I struggled through some of the more abstract poems in the first half of this collection, I really enjoyed a number of them in the second half. The final poem made me laugh out loud a couple of times, which is rare for me and poetry.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

not really my style of poetry but i liked the title a lot and there were lines here and there that i appreciated. i think it was just on topics that i didn’t connect with and pretty experimental in a lot of pieces in regards to form. not bad, just not my cup of tea.

[Lorraine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is special to me because the oldest kiddo gave it to me for a gift and spent a lot of time thinking about what I'd like. Unfortunately, I bounced off most these poems pretty hard (they're largely what I call the nonsensical genre LOL).

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

august 2023 poetry challenge day 6. this book is a tv in a laundromat somewhere in middle america that's never seen the ocean but 🗣🗣 you used to feel like you were always going to the same place but it didnt hurt and other times the ocean glowed so blue it broke half your bones

[Carla Seravalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM YOU ARE

[Shawn Aebi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough to connect with many of these works. Sure don't get the long list of a few thousand words. Clearly trying to invoke action out of our sedentary world.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Also please to receive a friend's letter, which arrived torn open and resealed with exactly the kind of heavy-duty tape I would expect him to own."

"The tiny pill of mystery"

"ONE BITE, one cherry, another; so many they become monstrous and unmoored."

"--chomp chomp choke/ little bloodclot on the yolk -- "

"too much and death
too little and same"

"When the barber puts the smock on me I become a secret with a head."

"We will meet up at the balloon show with a box of pins."

"I don't have anything much -- what useless fire is light, what distant mobile mouthing."

"What about a paragraph behaves like a room"

"jack of no traits"

"I only need a clean place to lie around, to see a few decent things."

[Jesse Henning · Rating 3 out of 5]

eh. some of these were legit but I always got the feeling that bibbins is just the kid in the back of the class that cracks wise all the time - it's fun for a while, but sometimes i just want to listen to the teacher