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Blood Pages
In Blood Pages George Bilgere continues his exploration of the joys and absurdities of being middle-aged and middle-class in the Midwest. OK, maybe he’s a bit beyond middle-aged at this point, and his rueful awareness of this makes these poems even more darkly hilarious, more deeply aware of the feckless and baffling times our nation has stumbled into. And the fact that Bilgere, relatively late in life, is now the father of two young boys brings a fresh sense of urgency to his work. Blood Pages is a guidebook to the fears, foibles, and beauties of our lovely old country as it makes its blundering, tentative way into the new century.
- GenresPoetry
72 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2018
4 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
George Bilgere
21 books42 followersBilly Collins once commented that poet George Bilgere "has shown that imaginative wonders and deep emotional truths can be achieved with plain, colloquial American speech." Bilgere has done so in his six collections of poetry, most recently "Imperial" (Pitt Poetry Series). His numerous awards include the May Swenson Poetry Award and a Pushcart Prize. A professor of English at John Carroll University in Cleveland, he is also host of the public radio program WORDPLAY, an offbeat mix of poetry and comedy.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 4, 2021
George is one of those how-does-he-do-it poets. He breaks rules blithely with these long, conversational poems that go line after line before finding a period. Clichés? No problem. The reader just runs through them like stop signs at midnight on a lonely crossroads in the middle of nowhere.
The bigger point is the quiet truths Bilgere perceptively finds. He has his finger on the pulse of modern America. And he is as accessible as all get-out, satisfying serious poetry fans as well as once-in-a-midnight-blue poetry fans.
Heck. Even Billy Collins likes him. It says so on the blurb on the back. End of story.
Nota bene: I share two poems from this collection, one at each link below:
The Beauty of Holding a New Book in Your Hands
Quiet Poems, Desperate Poems
The bigger point is the quiet truths Bilgere perceptively finds. He has his finger on the pulse of modern America. And he is as accessible as all get-out, satisfying serious poetry fans as well as once-in-a-midnight-blue poetry fans.
Heck. Even Billy Collins likes him. It says so on the blurb on the back. End of story.
Nota bene: I share two poems from this collection, one at each link below:
The Beauty of Holding a New Book in Your Hands
Quiet Poems, Desperate Poems
March 19, 2024
George Bilgere is one of my favorite contemporary poets. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection.
UPDATE: I reread this book in 2024.
I enjoyed George Bilgere’s recent chapbook (Cheap Motels of My Youth) so much that I decided to revisit some of his longer poetry collections that I’ve read in the past — and others that I’ve not yet read. For starters, I reread this one, Blood Pages. And it is just delightful all the way. The speaker is always a middle-age male in America — and the poems are sometimes poignant, very often humorous, always with a self-deprecating light touch. I’ve been reading more poems to my husband, who's not really into poetry — except maybe mine — and definitely George Bilgere’s!
UPDATE: I reread this book in 2024.
I enjoyed George Bilgere’s recent chapbook (Cheap Motels of My Youth) so much that I decided to revisit some of his longer poetry collections that I’ve read in the past — and others that I’ve not yet read. For starters, I reread this one, Blood Pages. And it is just delightful all the way. The speaker is always a middle-age male in America — and the poems are sometimes poignant, very often humorous, always with a self-deprecating light touch. I’ve been reading more poems to my husband, who's not really into poetry — except maybe mine — and definitely George Bilgere’s!
April 20, 2018
Another 5-star collection – how does Bilgere keep turning them out? You’d think baby boys would cut into his sleep, concentration, and work time. Maybe they do, but they’ve also given him charming new material. “Blood Pages” describes his son’s picture book about sharks.
As always, Bilgere’s poems are warm, accessible, and insightful, moving you from laughter to tears and back again. Bilgere can turn anything into poetry, from the usual topics of birth and death, to a bicycle ride or daddy long legs in his backyard. When he pokes fun of his own foibles – putting off writing a note to a dying friend, trying to look like he’s suffering while he’s in the delivery room with his wife, or being jealous of a poet with the hot new “game changer” book – we get to sit back and relax. He’s giving us permission to be human.
While most of Bilgere’s poems are the stuff of everyday life, he’s still a college professor, well-traveled and cultured, so he blends in more esoteric subjects without their usual stuffy tone of exclusion. In “The Roughs,” he writes, “Whitman says he’s one of the roughs. // I don’t think so.” He then describes the cursing, hard-working roughs he’s worked beside on building crews to prove his point. “Icarus” retells not just the myth, but treats us to a tweet age version of Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts.”
Even though I’m about Bilgere’s age and know Boomer cultural references are a big reason I relate to his poems, I was especially tickled by this passage from “Boomers.” He’s right. I do have this photo:
“And you’re thinking, okay, what’s the point? Because
you happen to have more or less exactly the same photo
of your mother and father out on the town one night,
only it was 1957 and the place was called Maury’s
in New York City and your mother was a blonde. . .”
As always, Bilgere’s poems are warm, accessible, and insightful, moving you from laughter to tears and back again. Bilgere can turn anything into poetry, from the usual topics of birth and death, to a bicycle ride or daddy long legs in his backyard. When he pokes fun of his own foibles – putting off writing a note to a dying friend, trying to look like he’s suffering while he’s in the delivery room with his wife, or being jealous of a poet with the hot new “game changer” book – we get to sit back and relax. He’s giving us permission to be human.
While most of Bilgere’s poems are the stuff of everyday life, he’s still a college professor, well-traveled and cultured, so he blends in more esoteric subjects without their usual stuffy tone of exclusion. In “The Roughs,” he writes, “Whitman says he’s one of the roughs. // I don’t think so.” He then describes the cursing, hard-working roughs he’s worked beside on building crews to prove his point. “Icarus” retells not just the myth, but treats us to a tweet age version of Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts.”
Even though I’m about Bilgere’s age and know Boomer cultural references are a big reason I relate to his poems, I was especially tickled by this passage from “Boomers.” He’s right. I do have this photo:
“And you’re thinking, okay, what’s the point? Because
you happen to have more or less exactly the same photo
of your mother and father out on the town one night,
only it was 1957 and the place was called Maury’s
in New York City and your mother was a blonde. . .”
February 14, 2025
Another excellent collection by Bilgere! However, it was not his best collection. Despite this, however, I'm still really enjoying the evolution of Bilgere's work, and the reoccurring imagery that runs through his poems. It was nice, too, to see how fatherhood and age are changing him--I think for the better--although I'm very fond of the frisky, sexually-charged Bilgere of his earlier work, too (He was very funny). Still, I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to sample the work of one of the greatest writers in Ohio!
UPDATE: 2/14/2025
I've read this book again and enjoyed it so much more, pouring over the beautiful passages, floating through page after page. Bilgere is a master poet. Changing review from three stars to four.
UPDATE: 2/14/2025
I've read this book again and enjoyed it so much more, pouring over the beautiful passages, floating through page after page. Bilgere is a master poet. Changing review from three stars to four.
September 25, 2018
This is it.
This is what I look for in a book of poetry.
Almost every... single... poem in here now has
some kind of star, asterisk, and/or margin note.
Bilgere just kept them coming with unrelenting
goodness, laughter, and occasional gut-wrenching.
Poems like "The Forge" and "Midnight in LA"
made me writhe in a certain discomfort.
"Pancake Dilemma" made me say
out loud, "I get that, brother. . ."
"Father's Day" cracked. me. up.
Because I too hate the word "impactful."
To each his or her own.
But "Blood Pages" is the book for me.
This is what I look for in a book of poetry.
Almost every... single... poem in here now has
some kind of star, asterisk, and/or margin note.
Bilgere just kept them coming with unrelenting
goodness, laughter, and occasional gut-wrenching.
Poems like "The Forge" and "Midnight in LA"
made me writhe in a certain discomfort.
"Pancake Dilemma" made me say
out loud, "I get that, brother. . ."
"Father's Day" cracked. me. up.
Because I too hate the word "impactful."
To each his or her own.
But "Blood Pages" is the book for me.
February 6, 2019
When I encountered my first George Bilgere poem about 15 years ago, I couldn’t stop myself from reading it to a friend in a freezing parking lot. At the closing passage her mitten lifted in an arc to land with a muffled thump on her chest. She said, “That’s the guy I’ve been telling you about!” We’ve both been savoring this poet’s work ever since.
George Bilgere magically packs the essence of a story into a poem’s minimal form. Scene and characters always vivid, plot invariably unexpected, transformation occurring in all sorts of ways. In Blood Pages, Bilgere takes poetic storytelling to new heights. He jabs at male pretensions with poems like “Void Unfilled.” He expresses by repressing strong emotion in “Living Will,” honing the term “ventilator” down to “syllables like four rooms.” He masterfully repeats words in triplicate as a tricycle enrages a father in “The Forge.” Get your hands on Blood Pages. You may not be able to stop yourself from reading it in a parking lot.
George Bilgere magically packs the essence of a story into a poem’s minimal form. Scene and characters always vivid, plot invariably unexpected, transformation occurring in all sorts of ways. In Blood Pages, Bilgere takes poetic storytelling to new heights. He jabs at male pretensions with poems like “Void Unfilled.” He expresses by repressing strong emotion in “Living Will,” honing the term “ventilator” down to “syllables like four rooms.” He masterfully repeats words in triplicate as a tricycle enrages a father in “The Forge.” Get your hands on Blood Pages. You may not be able to stop yourself from reading it in a parking lot.
January 17, 2020
Love these poems. I will read them again and again.
August 31, 2021
25/31 #TheSealeyChallenge
I think I like Bilgere almost as much as Billy Collins.
I think I like Bilgere almost as much as Billy Collins.
June 7, 2023
A lot of great fleeting moments captured and drawn out for investigation. I especially liked the birth of his child while the nurse found it mundane and talked about dating prospects to their second.
March 15, 2025
2/5 when he talks about his wife
4/5 when he doesn’t talk about his wife
Maybe I would’ve enjoyed this more if I was older and wiser.
4/5 when he doesn’t talk about his wife
Maybe I would’ve enjoyed this more if I was older and wiser.
July 17, 2020
Someone sent me the poem "Horseplay" and I knew I had to get this book. Bilgere has a straightforward style which reminded me of Billy Collins. Some of these poems will make you laugh and then turn around and immediately break your heart. I definitely recommend it and I'm sure I'll be returning to it again and again.
July 5, 2021
A wonderful birthday gift. I loved the first poems...my brother insisted they should have come after the later poems, which are more playful, with both words and ideas. I disagree...but it would have been interesting to see how I would have felt if I had started, as he suggested, on page 29...with a playful poem titled, "Horseplay." I didn't read his email until after I'd already begun the book and I was swept in by those first poems. While the rest of the poems may have been a sort of poetic "dessert," I don't think I would have been so initially awed if I'd begun in the middle.
I've been re-reading my teacher, Stephen Dunn's, poems since his death last week. I wonder if they knew each other. There is something so kindred about their concerns with ordinary lives: their beauty and their dark undersides.
I've been re-reading my teacher, Stephen Dunn's, poems since his death last week. I wonder if they knew each other. There is something so kindred about their concerns with ordinary lives: their beauty and their dark undersides.
March 24, 2021
A fun read. Domestic poetry at its finest.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews