Nice Hat. Thanks.

by Joshua Beckman, Matthew Rohrer

Nice Hat. Thanks. is an innovative book based on the recorded improvised poetic collaborations between two award-winning poets, Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer. Nice Hat. Thanks. is a collection of transcriptions of these collaborations, with poems ranging from a few words to several pages.

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 2002

About the author

Joshua Beckman was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the author of six books, including Take It (Wave Books, 2009), Shake and two collaborations with Matthew Rohrer: Nice Hat. Thanks. and Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. He is an editor at Wave Books and has translated numerous works of poetry and prose, including Poker by Tomaz Salamun, which was a finalist for the PEN America Poetry in Translation Award. He is also the recipient of numerous other awards, including a NYFA fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Seattle and New York.

For more information on this author, go to:
http://www.wavepoetry.com/authors/31-...

Reviews

[Trey Harris]

really really really nice hat.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cool collaborative collection of improvised poems. I’ve been burning through Matthew Rohrer’s bibliography and this is an interesting and fun side project.

[Ava Hyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me it was very much hit or miss but four because I enjoyed reading

[Eric T. Voigt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I maintain: VERY funny. VERY good imagery. A charmingly designed book full of charmingly charming poems arranged in ways pleasing to the eye and written in ways pleasing to the mind. And I want more. Here is my favorite excerpt I did not laugh outwardly over:

"Before giants wandered Brooklyn a device for preventing wandering giants from Brooklyn wanderings stood centrally and proudly.
Our leaders perished.
Our device went to pieces.
Our beautiful neighborhood fell over onto another couple."

If you liked that you'll like this: the rest of the book.

[Jeremy Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book, and an even better tool for teaching creative writing to anyone, especially kids. Anyone trying to teach people to write creatively in collaboration simply must have this book. It's a winner.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collaborative poetry books can sometimes be iffy or feel compromised, but Beckman and Rohrer really know how to push each other in this format. Each line ups the ante.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that clearly started out as "two poets fucking around" and quickly took a path towards "poetic brilliance"

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tone of this book collaboratively written by Matthew Rohrer and Joshua Beckman is just perfect. I'd love to write a little gem of a poetry book like this.

[uena · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Never will your memories
repopulate your lunar beliefs."

--Nice Hat. Thanks.

[Cody White · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been years since I read this book, but it made enough of an impression that last night I dreamt about it.

[Bobby · Rating 5 out of 5]

all at once hilarious and beautiful.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems up to five lines had me. Stopped time. I smiled like you do when you are watching someone turn something inside out that you didn't think possible with bare hands.

The longer ones took a bit of work but they are very often alive.

I love that even the process notes were done in the process.

(tiny thing: I want to love the cover drawing but I don't! which only hurts because I love everything else so much)