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Ramshackle Ode
A sparkling debut collection from a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet that makes an ecstatic argument for living
Containing joy and suffering side by side, Ramshackle Ode offers elegies and odes as necessary partners to bring out the greatest power in each. By turns celebratory, meditative, tender, and rebellious, these poems reimagine the divisions and intersections of life and death, the human and the natural world, the brutal and the beautiful. Time and again, they choose hope.
From an award-winning young poet in the tradition of Marie Howe, Walt Whitman, Gerald Stern, and contemporary American bard Maurice Manning, Ramshackle Ode presents a new voice singing toward transcendence, offering the sense that, though this world is fragile, human existence is a wonderfully stubborn miracle of chance.
Containing joy and suffering side by side, Ramshackle Ode offers elegies and odes as necessary partners to bring out the greatest power in each. By turns celebratory, meditative, tender, and rebellious, these poems reimagine the divisions and intersections of life and death, the human and the natural world, the brutal and the beautiful. Time and again, they choose hope.
From an award-winning young poet in the tradition of Marie Howe, Walt Whitman, Gerald Stern, and contemporary American bard Maurice Manning, Ramshackle Ode presents a new voice singing toward transcendence, offering the sense that, though this world is fragile, human existence is a wonderfully stubborn miracle of chance.
- GenresPoetry
112 pages, Paperback
First published April 5, 2016
4 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Keith Leonard
2 books8 followersKeith Leonard is the author of the poetry collection Ramshackle Ode (Mariner/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016). He is also the author of a chapbook, Still, the Shore, published by YesYes Books. Keith has held fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Indiana University, where he received an MFA. His poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in The Believer, New England Review, and Ploughshares.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 18, 2016
The title of Ramshackle Ode and that confetti-like riot of color on the cover pretty much telegraph that the reader is in for a life-affirming experience, and the very first poem, "Keel," sets the tone:
...I was walking your dog,
Love, thinking how I, too,
have been boot-thudded
by love, I was my own
storm once, so young
and eager to raise the sail
of my wanting, and I just wanted
to tell you I love this old boat,
this settled-in thing.
Right away you can tell: Here is someone who's able to appreciate the moment he's in. He's not here to weigh us down with a lot of angst; he's here to celebrate, to write odes to the life he's living. Admittedly, this sounds a bit insufferable, but it's actually quite charming. In a few instances, he dedicates poems to his friends and actually addresses those friends in the verse, as in "Ode to Alternatives":
Hey Kevin, I know
I'm always talking,
but look at those
two little boys who
don't know any better--
they're using a king
as a pawn, a pawn
as a knight, a queen
as a bishop--and isn't
not knowing the rules
just beautiful?
Or in "Ode to the Odes":
Hey Steve, do you ever think
to write a letter
to the board of selectmen
elected to the blue city
our language makes?
And if that bit seems a little esoteric to you, a little further on in the poem he rhapsodizes:
...I don't know
if I'm making much sense here,
but this morning
my honey bunny
kissed me on the lips
all skunk breath and beautiful.
And Steve, does it ever come to you
like a vanilla-scented wind--
this happiness?
Aw, that's sweet, right? Maybe a little too sweet? How about this, from "A Brief History of Patience"?
Nights, I would wait for the first fish
to swallow the hook. The trick, I learned,
was not to force it, was to let the fish feel the pain
that comes from blindness and mistake.
Whoa, dude! I was not expecting that! A little harsh, don't you think? But not really. It's true. It's life. And in fact, there's darkness woven throughout this collection, as there is in life, but it never overwhelms the buoyant spirit that makes this collection so much fun, and such a joy to read.
I won Ramshackle Ode, Keith Leonard's first collection, via a giveaway on Instagram. There was no expectation of any sort of review. Thank you to the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for introducing me to this poet. I'm grateful to have made his acquaintance.
...I was walking your dog,
Love, thinking how I, too,
have been boot-thudded
by love, I was my own
storm once, so young
and eager to raise the sail
of my wanting, and I just wanted
to tell you I love this old boat,
this settled-in thing.
Right away you can tell: Here is someone who's able to appreciate the moment he's in. He's not here to weigh us down with a lot of angst; he's here to celebrate, to write odes to the life he's living. Admittedly, this sounds a bit insufferable, but it's actually quite charming. In a few instances, he dedicates poems to his friends and actually addresses those friends in the verse, as in "Ode to Alternatives":
Hey Kevin, I know
I'm always talking,
but look at those
two little boys who
don't know any better--
they're using a king
as a pawn, a pawn
as a knight, a queen
as a bishop--and isn't
not knowing the rules
just beautiful?
Or in "Ode to the Odes":
Hey Steve, do you ever think
to write a letter
to the board of selectmen
elected to the blue city
our language makes?
And if that bit seems a little esoteric to you, a little further on in the poem he rhapsodizes:
...I don't know
if I'm making much sense here,
but this morning
my honey bunny
kissed me on the lips
all skunk breath and beautiful.
And Steve, does it ever come to you
like a vanilla-scented wind--
this happiness?
Aw, that's sweet, right? Maybe a little too sweet? How about this, from "A Brief History of Patience"?
Nights, I would wait for the first fish
to swallow the hook. The trick, I learned,
was not to force it, was to let the fish feel the pain
that comes from blindness and mistake.
Whoa, dude! I was not expecting that! A little harsh, don't you think? But not really. It's true. It's life. And in fact, there's darkness woven throughout this collection, as there is in life, but it never overwhelms the buoyant spirit that makes this collection so much fun, and such a joy to read.
I won Ramshackle Ode, Keith Leonard's first collection, via a giveaway on Instagram. There was no expectation of any sort of review. Thank you to the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, for introducing me to this poet. I'm grateful to have made his acquaintance.
December 29, 2016
Spontaneously beautiful, yet still crafted and polished. This volume brought a smile to my face.
May 5, 2016
Wonderful poems, full of emotions and rich imagery. I truly enjoyed reading this collection and I'll be looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.
A copy was very kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley.
A copy was very kindly provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley.
April 27, 2016
Ramshackle Ode, by Keith Leonard is poetic, poignant and carefully crafted, a work of beauty so sharp that it sometimes hurts. Perhaps Leonard uses the title as self-deprecation, but this work is something in which he should take great pride. It has been my pleasure to 'meet' this man through his writing. He is unapologetic about his life and his honesty is refreshing. There is often a sense of melancholy, bitter loss, or nostalgia for his younger bad boy self. Beauty is wrung from unlovely roots as the is milkweed that serves as food for monarch butterflies growing from “reeking kitchen scraps”. Wordplay is evident, for example in Elegy where he arranges the three words, “this isn't it” in each of the four possible ways, each with distinct meaning. My favorite poem is' The Lords and Serfs of Sand and Sea' with its evocation of the magic and terror of childhood. Reading poetry is a quiet and solitary experience, one in which the reader is alone with the poet and his poem. Reading 'Ramshackly Ode' left me feeling filled with beauty and meaning.
March 18, 2019
Sometimes you read poetry so beautifully written and the most perfect imagery that you can see in your head, you feel like you are escaping to another world or are a part of a story. Ramshackle Ode was a book that I really enjoyed for its ability to make me see what Keith saw/is seeing, to take me outside of my stressful world and just be in the contemplation of his words. I enjoyed the fact that while reading this it was kind of a calming and mediative experience. I honestly did not understanding the meaning of most of the poems and could not relate to them as much as I could other poets that I have read, but his words inspired me and made me see. He writes about different topics from the norm, and basic topics in a whole new light. I felt a deep sense of healing and loss and pain and hope and darkness and light. The balance of darkness and light was perfect, the hopeless and the hopeful, to be in darkness, but to still have hope. I got to admit that some of the poems I found not as profound or simply written, but overall I thought that his poems were great! I am looking forward to read what he writes next. This was an excellent debut that shows Keith has a writing ability worth noticing and reading, a sensory-based writing that is vivid and lively and very thoughtful.
March 26, 2017
Poetry is meant to be read slow and deliberate. Ramshackle Ode is no exception. I found myself often reading a poem and my mind amazed and excited by an image that Leonard creates. The greatest part of reading good poetry is the sense of wonder and play and change of perspective that a poem can give you and Leonard's book of odes and elegies does not disappoint. some of the poems that stood out the most for me was "Fiction" and "Ode to Dreaming the Dead".
February 19, 2022
“The trouble with me is I can arrange
three words however I please:
This isn’t it
It isn’t this
Isn’t it this
Isn’t this it” —Keith Leonard, “Elegy”
Yep. Too few of these poems say “here’s all of me,” like “Elegy” or “Just Like That.” A few too many have “wooden center stones” of obscurity or “chipped-tooth pits” of inscrutability. Still others root like an aardvark in “the nonsense way.”
Favorite Poems:
“Elegy”
“Just Like That”
“A Brief History of Patience”
“Udder”
three words however I please:
This isn’t it
It isn’t this
Isn’t it this
Isn’t this it” —Keith Leonard, “Elegy”
Yep. Too few of these poems say “here’s all of me,” like “Elegy” or “Just Like That.” A few too many have “wooden center stones” of obscurity or “chipped-tooth pits” of inscrutability. Still others root like an aardvark in “the nonsense way.”
Favorite Poems:
“Elegy”
“Just Like That”
“A Brief History of Patience”
“Udder”
January 10, 2023
Good for the strawberry
for wearing all its seeds on its skin—
too few things say here’s all of me
like that—
Some of these poems have changed my life. I was able to meet Leonard at a school reading at one point, and completely failed to communicate this.
The tenderness with which he holds the world is admirable, and I hope that he is well.
Five stars for complicated feelings about fathers, for Icarus, and for the word "love."
for wearing all its seeds on its skin—
too few things say here’s all of me
like that—
Some of these poems have changed my life. I was able to meet Leonard at a school reading at one point, and completely failed to communicate this.
The tenderness with which he holds the world is admirable, and I hope that he is well.
Five stars for complicated feelings about fathers, for Icarus, and for the word "love."
January 20, 2023
So...this book sat on my bookshelf for several years before I lent it to a resident at work. That was like... a year ago and I had just rediscovered this book while chatting with said resident... Oops!
I remember back in 2016 while I was finishing college, Keith Leonard came to campus to discuss poetry and his new/this book with us! I honestly lost track of bow many times I read this collection since purchasing it on campus that night... It was nice to rediscover these poems again!
I remember back in 2016 while I was finishing college, Keith Leonard came to campus to discuss poetry and his new/this book with us! I honestly lost track of bow many times I read this collection since purchasing it on campus that night... It was nice to rediscover these poems again!
May 28, 2023
"If I get the story / right, a fog will settle over the shore and there / will be no other place to look but at each other."
•
Keith Leonard writes poems that don't shy away from death or suffering, but somehow they always point to hope and beauty in the best and most nuanced ways. Also, he wrote one of my favorite poems (see second slide) though it's not included in this book. But it's so good- highly recommend this collection!
•
Keith Leonard writes poems that don't shy away from death or suffering, but somehow they always point to hope and beauty in the best and most nuanced ways. Also, he wrote one of my favorite poems (see second slide) though it's not included in this book. But it's so good- highly recommend this collection!
October 5, 2020
Hands down one of the most interesting collections, I have read of late. This is a fresh take on loss and its confrontation with unending joy and celebration, even in the smallest things, like strawberries for dinner. Leonard has a bright future as a poet.
May 17, 2023
This was a beautiful collection, uplifting and mostly focused on life and death. I enjoyed it, even though it wasn't exactly the style I usually enjoy - there were a lot of abstract metaphors. It felt very cohesive but wasn't at all monotonous.
September 20, 2019
Joyous and real, highly recommend.
April 5, 2021
This book is dynamic. It changes directions. It zips. Surprises and poignant moments await you.
January 11, 2023
One of the best books I've read in years
January 28, 2023
INCREDIBLE. So deep and monastic and hopeful.
October 10, 2023
Stunning collection of poems by a gifted writer. Each poem contains so much detail yet holds so much weight. I found myself coming back to certain poems to re-read each line and stanza.
December 28, 2023
A few days ago, I read Keith Leonard's poem "Recommendation" and knew I'd need more, more, more. Now that I've finished his book, I need more, more, more.
January 5, 2025
Some good poetry
Some good poetry mixed by some weaker poetry. Nothing, beyond an occasional memorable word choice or phrase, stood out for me.
Some good poetry mixed by some weaker poetry. Nothing, beyond an occasional memorable word choice or phrase, stood out for me.
January 3, 2020
Glowing, bursting, and buoyant. This collection is a deeply pleasurable read.
March 18, 2016
Thank you to Netgalley for sending me this collection!
This was really gorgeous.
I'm not sure I have a favorite poem but there were so many really beautiful lines littered throughout the poems it would be almost impossible to pick.
I'm looking forward to reading more by this author!
This was really gorgeous.
I'm not sure I have a favorite poem but there were so many really beautiful lines littered throughout the poems it would be almost impossible to pick.
I'm looking forward to reading more by this author!
September 29, 2016
His imagery is opaque at times, but there's a ton of positives to look forward to from this poet. I good/ok/bad this as: Good.
April 23, 2017
My favorites were Strawberries for Dinner and The Main Event. All beautifully written.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews