My Heart is That Eternal Rose Tattoo

by John Yau

In this collection of surreal, dreamlike prose vignettes John Yau takes us on startling journey across wastes of "cities fluttering with lost ghosts" and asks the question "what are you doing now that you're here?"

Genres: Poetry

165 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

John Yau is an American poet and critic who lives in New York City. He received his B.A. from Bard College in 1972 and his M.F.A. from Brooklyn College in 1978. He has published over 50 books of poetry, artists' books, fiction, and art criticism.

Reviews

[Evan Schwarz]

I don’t think I’ve ever read poetry quite like this. The use of language is so unique. The pieces carry a prose-like flow, some movie in a more narrative order, or have characters by name in them, but each sentences twists the expectations of the readers and slips and slides in its imagery to an almost dreaming effect. Here’s an example sentences I took note of last night from the poem The Unexpected Biography of Simon Yam.

“Whatever we do to each other tonight will have to done in words we haven’t used before. Otherwise the stainless steel bowl we lick will be full of amber.”

Awesome stuff. Every piece requires vigilance from the reader and to never gain complacency in the words written before. The way each poem sweeps you away into the unexpected and makes you exist in this present reality is just excellent. Thanks John Yau I liked your book.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in preparation for an upcoming talk featuring John Yau. The poems are mostly slippery suckers, not quite surreal but certainly as evasive as they are biting.