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Ace of Pentacles
- GenresPoetry
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
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About the author
John Wieners
70 books16 followersJohn Joseph Wieners (January 6, 1934 – March 1, 2002) was an American poet.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 5, 2016
Wow, wow and wow again. This book is DAMN good.
After reading his impressive (albeit short) debut with the beat classic, The Hotel Wentley Poems, I thought at the time that Wieners had set the bar for himself pretty bloody high. I thought 'well that was a great little book. The next one cannot be nearly as good'. But yet it was. And then some. It is EVEN BETTER than The Hotel Wentley Poems because every damn time, his poems are just spot on - there is nothing superfluous, there is enough mystery in there without it being too obscure or esoteric. Just the perfect blend.
You young poets out there, if you want to see how it's really done - then check this guy out.
John Wieners is a poet of unbelievable talent. Originally a student of two contemporary heavyweights - Robert Duncan and Charles Olson - Wieners managed to somehow carve out his own niche and forge his own style of poetry which shows little vestige of the two styles of his mentors.
Robert Creeley (with whom Wieners was madly in love with for much of his life) once called John Wieners the best 'emotional poet' of the times. There were many, many good poets around at the time so the competition was pretty intense but Wieners definitely is up there among the best, if not the top of the pack.
In fact, come to think of it, Ace of Pentacles might just be the best book of modern poetry I have EVER read. It's unbelievably good. An easy 5 stars. In fact it easily deserves 6.
After reading his impressive (albeit short) debut with the beat classic, The Hotel Wentley Poems, I thought at the time that Wieners had set the bar for himself pretty bloody high. I thought 'well that was a great little book. The next one cannot be nearly as good'. But yet it was. And then some. It is EVEN BETTER than The Hotel Wentley Poems because every damn time, his poems are just spot on - there is nothing superfluous, there is enough mystery in there without it being too obscure or esoteric. Just the perfect blend.
You young poets out there, if you want to see how it's really done - then check this guy out.
John Wieners is a poet of unbelievable talent. Originally a student of two contemporary heavyweights - Robert Duncan and Charles Olson - Wieners managed to somehow carve out his own niche and forge his own style of poetry which shows little vestige of the two styles of his mentors.
Robert Creeley (with whom Wieners was madly in love with for much of his life) once called John Wieners the best 'emotional poet' of the times. There were many, many good poets around at the time so the competition was pretty intense but Wieners definitely is up there among the best, if not the top of the pack.
In fact, come to think of it, Ace of Pentacles might just be the best book of modern poetry I have EVER read. It's unbelievably good. An easy 5 stars. In fact it easily deserves 6.
Displaying 1 of 1 review