Plan B

by Paul Muldoon

‘Paul Muldoon, who has done so much to reimagine the poet's task, has surpassed himself with his latest collection, Plan B, an exquisitely produced collaboration with Norman McBeath, the Scottish photographer.“I sat one evening with the photographs and copies of the poems and, like the kind of party host we've all been encouraged to believe ourselves to be, allowed them to get into conversation with each other”, writes Muldoon of his collection, which, he says, was “curated by the poems and photographs themselves”. Typically, he's given this new genre a distinctive new photoetry.’ – Observer

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

First published April 15, 2009

About the author

Born in Northern Ireland, Muldoon currently resides in the US and teaches at Princeton University. He held the chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University from 1999 through 2004. In September 2007, Muldoon became the poetry editor of The New Yorker.

Awards:
1992: Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for Madoc: A Mystery
1994: T. S. Eliot Prize for The Annals of Chile
1997: Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Poetry for New Selected Poems 1968–1994
2002: T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist) for Moy Sand and Gravel
2003: Griffin Poetry Prize (Canada) for Moy Sand and Gravel
2003: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Moy Sand and Gravel
2004: American Ireland Fund Literary Award
2004: Aspen Prize
2004: Shakespeare Prize

Reviews

[McKayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm gonna be honest: I don't know what most of the poems in this book were about. Sure, I could spend a few hours on each one, dissecting them and close-reading them and doing all the things that a lot of former professors probably wish I would do to them. But I don't have that kind of time. I understood what I understood, and I'm moving on, hopefully to come back to them some day in the future, when I'm smarter and more patient.

All that being said, I did really enjoy reading the poems in this collection. I'm a sound junkie when it comes to poetry, and the sounds in these poems are exquisite. Muldoon plays with internal rhyme, assonance, alliteration, and other devices that make each poem a joy to read aloud. I am especially fond of his tendency to end one section of a poem with an idea or turn of phrase and then begin the next section with the same thing. In fact, his use of repetition throughout the whole book was extremely satisfying to me; I felt like I was bouncing back and forth, being buffeted between ideas like strong winds keeping me from tipping over. I didn't always know what those ideas were, mind, but I sure did love reading them and feeling my tongue trip over them.

The accompanying photographs were lovely, but I found myself not looking at them much. There were some cases in which I found the poems and photos complemented each other nicely, but oftentimes I found them to be somewhat unrelated, like the photos were a distraction from the text. (Then again, I've already said I don't know what most of the poems were about, so what the hell do I know?)

I know I am going to be returning to these poems someday, and when I do, I will spend more time with them, really let them seep into me. But for now, I enjoyed what I got out of this little book of poems, and the ways it has already inspired my own poetry moving forward.

[Konstantin R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

[rating = B-]
I have not been a fan of Mr. Muldoon, especially since his choices for the New Yorker Poetry were always subpar (at least in my opinion). But I liked the fact that this had photos in it (very good photos, too). The middle section is the best; I think shorter poems worked better for him, for me as a reader. Most of these poems are long sequences that build on initial metaphors and can get kind of confused. I admire the skill and the approach, but I am not a fan of them entirely. Another thing, he seems to like to rhyme, which is not always bad, but if it is noticeable enough for someone to write "Ugh" in the margins, that should tell you something. The best poem was "Wayside Shrines", but "The Sod Farm" and "The Water Cooler" were always quite enjoyable. I read these poems in a day, and though some of the elusive Greek and French references were annoying, the main meaning, I believe, was understood. Gives me new hope for this well-known poet.

[Scott DuJardin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the photography is nice, I have difficulty finding the relationship between picture and poem.
However, while for me the collaboration of poem and photo is not successful, I quite liked Muldoon's poetry, and I am surprised by the low reviews this book has. I will have to look for his other books of poetry.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Adam Newey review in the Guardian several years ago mentioned this collection of Muldoon's resembling so many multiple exposure photographs (or something along those lines). A collaboration between Muldoon and the photography Norman McBeath, the poems themselves take off from photography, or at least take some cues from. "Indirection" and "evocation" [or, if you will, "photoetry," as the jacket copy also - somewhat clumsily - christens it], can safely describe much of Muldoon's writing: always intelligent, seldom direct; present, without ever risking earnestness. And so with this collection: intelligent, dryly humorous, almost too coy but just contemplative-enough. A good pull from the library collection, likely less rewarding taken at list price, a judgment which can, unfortunately, be applied to most of his volumes. And yet, always enough to warrant a look-through...

[Jon Cone · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a great disappointment. I think Paul Muldoon is a wonderful poet, but here his poems seem hastily written, cranky, spitefully elusive. However, the photographs by Norman McBeath are tremendous. One wonders what Muldoon was thinking when he assembled these poems together with these photographs. The potential for dialogue between the two art forms is completely, or overwhelmingly, ignored. The photographs are highly evocative of the funereal, rustic, elemental, historical, a great vast undeclared nostalgia. Muldoon
chose to respond by evading what might have been a thrilling call-and-response between the two. (I concede one or two poems function quite nicely.) A much better example of this kind of collaboration is the book REMAINS OF ELMET by Ted Hughes and Fay Godwin.

[Sanjuro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Muldoon is a strange experience for me. The poems are a bit too elusive, almost stubborn. Usually too much for my taste. However, Muldoon is phenomenal in his use of language, and his rhyme schemes are always incredibly interesting. This book of poems features this same give and take.

I liked the poems, but for the frustration of realizing they aren't really about anything. I also really enjoyed the subtle, rustic photographs by photographer Norman McBeath that accompanied each poem. One could call this photoetry; or poetography. However, the combination reveals a massive missed opportunity - there seems to be little to zero relationship between the poems and the photos.

Overall an interesting but incredibly frustrating book.

[Liam Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

At a first reading, I could sense I was reading something artistic, but am not convinced the poems work. The pics for most are okay, not all of them are good - some are actually boring and make me wonder why artists in one medium regard themselves as 'experts' in another. Although Muldoon never claims photographic expertise, he's decision to pair up his poems with pics and ask us to pay upwards of $35 for the book makes me feel he's playing a joke on us. I fell for the joke and then promptly returned the book to Borders the following morning.

[Nicole]

People are strange. This was a strange event with lots of strange people.

Frankly, I read my own book in the back through most of it, so you should probably look to someone else for an informed opinion of this poet or his work.