What do you think?
Rate this book
Splish Splash
- GenresPoetry
93 pages, Paperback
Published November 6, 2024
1 person is currently reading
19 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 14, 2024
Amazing . JDFM makes Will Shakespear look like a rank amateur. Thought provoking and revolutionary. An ideal stocking filler for anyone, anywhere
Read
August 14, 2025A book of poems released by my favorite comedian? I feel like I’m in 2013 again!
I heard the poem Splish Splash read aloud and thought it was good enough I had to buy the book to have it for reference on my shelf.
I heard the poem Splish Splash read aloud and thought it was good enough I had to buy the book to have it for reference on my shelf.
March 24, 2025
I think McCann is on his way to becoming one of the greatest comedians of the 21st Century.
Maybe not one of the greatest poets though.
4-5 of the poems here are really funny and poignant in a way that makes them actually feel like a poem, rather than a long tweet. “Splish Splash” and “Freedom” were my particular favorites. Another 10 or so had a kernel of something but seemed half-baked. The rest were long tweets with line-breaks added, at best.
I am a massive fan of McCann’s comedy and podcast, and also a lover of poetry, so maybe I came in with too high of expectations. The hilarity and profundity of the podcast had me expecting every poem to be just as hilarious and profound.
McCann is a poet who, by his own admission (in one of the poems in this book), doesn’t like reading poetry. It’s a shame because, as an avid listener of the podcast, I believe he *could* like poetry, and if he did, he might become a great comic poet.
If James Donald Forbes McCann wants to become a Great Comic Poet, which I think more possible, I would recommend 4 steps:
- Read “Break, Blow, Burn” by Camille Paglia. This book made me “get” poetry for the first time.
- Read “Good Poems” edited by Garrison Keillor. This book made me love poetry for the first time, and it contains many hilarious and down-to-earth poems.
- Study Shel Silverstein. When I dove into this book I wanted it to be a sort of “Shel Silverstein meets Kurt Vonnegut” or “Silverstein for adults” and there are many poems that reach for this and a few that achieve it. But where many of them fall short is that the author didn’t commit. They start with a sort of rhyme and meter, and then peter out. It’s fine to write without rhyme and meter, and it’s fine to break with rhyme and meter—but only if it definitely makes the poem funnier, or more poignant (and sometimes you achieve this). Otherwise, it makes it significantly less funny and less poetic (more often the case in this book). It makes it feel half-baked and lazy, like half way through it stopped being a poem and turned into a tweet with line breaks. It also makes the rhymes themselves feel lazy, somehow. There are many other wisdoms hidden in Silverstein, for he was the greatest comic poet of all time. Every poet, lover of poetry, and English-speaking parent should make it habit of studying him.
- Don’t change anything about yourself as a writer. Only do more of it. Multiply your output. No idea is a bad idea for a poem, just put every damn thing you can think of down on paper…
But become a more ruthless editor. Liberally throw out lines, words, and whole poems. Assume that every extra word, phrase, and sentence is costly to the quality of the work (by making it less funny, less poignant, less clear, less enjoyable to read). Cut out whatever you can. If you end up with a book of only 4 or 5 poems on the other side of the editing, good. Now you can write a whole new pile of garbage from which to glean 4 or 5 new poems and soon you’ll have a pretty damn excellent collection of poems.
Maybe not one of the greatest poets though.
4-5 of the poems here are really funny and poignant in a way that makes them actually feel like a poem, rather than a long tweet. “Splish Splash” and “Freedom” were my particular favorites. Another 10 or so had a kernel of something but seemed half-baked. The rest were long tweets with line-breaks added, at best.
I am a massive fan of McCann’s comedy and podcast, and also a lover of poetry, so maybe I came in with too high of expectations. The hilarity and profundity of the podcast had me expecting every poem to be just as hilarious and profound.
McCann is a poet who, by his own admission (in one of the poems in this book), doesn’t like reading poetry. It’s a shame because, as an avid listener of the podcast, I believe he *could* like poetry, and if he did, he might become a great comic poet.
If James Donald Forbes McCann wants to become a Great Comic Poet, which I think more possible, I would recommend 4 steps:
- Read “Break, Blow, Burn” by Camille Paglia. This book made me “get” poetry for the first time.
- Read “Good Poems” edited by Garrison Keillor. This book made me love poetry for the first time, and it contains many hilarious and down-to-earth poems.
- Study Shel Silverstein. When I dove into this book I wanted it to be a sort of “Shel Silverstein meets Kurt Vonnegut” or “Silverstein for adults” and there are many poems that reach for this and a few that achieve it. But where many of them fall short is that the author didn’t commit. They start with a sort of rhyme and meter, and then peter out. It’s fine to write without rhyme and meter, and it’s fine to break with rhyme and meter—but only if it definitely makes the poem funnier, or more poignant (and sometimes you achieve this). Otherwise, it makes it significantly less funny and less poetic (more often the case in this book). It makes it feel half-baked and lazy, like half way through it stopped being a poem and turned into a tweet with line breaks. It also makes the rhymes themselves feel lazy, somehow. There are many other wisdoms hidden in Silverstein, for he was the greatest comic poet of all time. Every poet, lover of poetry, and English-speaking parent should make it habit of studying him.
- Don’t change anything about yourself as a writer. Only do more of it. Multiply your output. No idea is a bad idea for a poem, just put every damn thing you can think of down on paper…
But become a more ruthless editor. Liberally throw out lines, words, and whole poems. Assume that every extra word, phrase, and sentence is costly to the quality of the work (by making it less funny, less poignant, less clear, less enjoyable to read). Cut out whatever you can. If you end up with a book of only 4 or 5 poems on the other side of the editing, good. Now you can write a whole new pile of garbage from which to glean 4 or 5 new poems and soon you’ll have a pretty damn excellent collection of poems.
August 10, 2025
This was my first book of poetry besides those read to me in childhood. Both of the introductions were very well-written and made me laugh. It took less than twenty minutes to take in the poems in one fell swoop. Most of these poems had me smiling. A handful had me laughing at loud. Only a few were lost to me. James is a fascinating, funny, and well-read man and I was more than satisfied with what his book of poems brought me. It felt like some sort of singular sub-genre of poems belonging to JDFM. I will be sharing this book with others and buying the rest of his collection.
March 1, 2025
In 30 years society will come to realize we were living amongst the voice of a generation. No poet encapsulates life in the 2020s with more grace and elegance than James McCann.
May 10, 2025
Unpretentious poetry that's actually enjoyable to read, funny, and quietly profound. A rare find indeed.
August 9, 2025
must read in his voice for full effect
August 25, 2025
I guess I’m getting into poetry now.
February 6, 2025
James Donald Forbes McCann is on the Mount Rushmore for greatest poetic minds in the history of art, humanity, THE WORLD. Step aside, Dante and Frost, for the apogee of Australian exports has taken his throne
“I'd like a little kiss, and I'd like a little cuddle, I'd like a little pudding and a splish splash in a puddle. But more than anything, there's one thing I'm yearning for: to drive my car off of a cliff and into a deep ravine where the car explodes on impact and I die immediately. I'd also like a haircut, and sandwich and a bigger TV, but overwhelmingly it is the car death that I want. I want it every day, and I've wanted it forever, but I want it slightly less than all of the other things put together.”
“I'd like a little kiss, and I'd like a little cuddle, I'd like a little pudding and a splish splash in a puddle. But more than anything, there's one thing I'm yearning for: to drive my car off of a cliff and into a deep ravine where the car explodes on impact and I die immediately. I'd also like a haircut, and sandwich and a bigger TV, but overwhelmingly it is the car death that I want. I want it every day, and I've wanted it forever, but I want it slightly less than all of the other things put together.”
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews