Krypton Nights: Poems

by Bryan D. Dietrich

Krypton Nights, Bryan Dietrich's first volume of poetry, is the year 2001 winner of the Paris Review Prize in Poetry. The simplest thing to say about Krypton Nights is that almost every poem within concerns the DC Comics comic book character Superman. The result is priceless. Sometimes funny and often heartbreaking, these poems are anything but trite. Each is a careful construction and serious meditation on our 21st century reality, how we feel and who we are. This book's indulgence in pop culture recalls Dietrich's fellow Kansan Albert Goldbarth, and, like Goldbarth, Dietrich is a stunning poet who is poised to reveal to us our own identity, as quirky or quacky as that may be.

Genres: Poetry, Superman

58 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2002

Reviews

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dietrich writes a set of poems written from the vantage point of characters from the Superman comic. He takes this as an opportunity to explore the significance of a demigod coming to dwell amid mortals. Clark, Lois, and Lex Luther consider the significance of this powerful foreigner coming to earth and showing loyalty to mere mortals. This isn't just child's play; the subject gets to the heart of several world religions and myths--which Dietrich alludes to throughout. While mixing the sacred and the profane, Dietrich considers what happens when beings from different worlds collide.

[R.G. Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riveting, tragic, and funny exploration of the Superman mythos through poems.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entire poetry collection about the Man of Steel? It's true! You don't have to be a comic book fanatic or Lois Lane to enjoy this one.

[Robert Zimmermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoy almost this entire collection, but then it lost me at the end during Lex Luthor's section. Still a great collection, aside from that. Definitely worth a read.