Famous Americans

Yale Series of Younger Poets

by Loren Goodman

Winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets, Loren Goodman’s Famous Americans takes the reader on a rollercoaster of a ride through the absurdities of American pop culture. Employing a variety of forms (from epistolary to script to interview and beyond), this work proves to be as much about exploring frameworks as it is about examining the lives of famous and not-so-famous Americans. Goodman questions our concept of what it means to be an icon: he disrupts our assumptions, creating an alternate universe in which nothing remains sacred.

Genres: Poetry

91 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Lori Theis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best collection of poetry I've read in years!

In the introduction to Famous Americans W.S. Merwin says, “The collection includes a repertoire of slips and slides, irreverent improvisations, satiric contortions, occasionally obvious and at other times surprising in the way of funhouse-mirror distortions.” A dozen or so lines later Merwin muses on the nonsensical nature of the writings and goes on to say, “…in the course of the book it appears to be nonsense itself, as it occurs to him, that Mr. Goodman is exploring.”

Then Merwin makes what might be the most important observation about Famous Americans, “The thread of nonsense becomes the central nerve of an aesthetic, the directive in one after another of these writings.” Exactly. And by doing so Goodman has created a world where “the black teeth” have indeed become “startling doorways” leading to paths previously un-tread, through the dendrite forests of our minds. Comic means to comic ends? Well yes, mostly. We’re meant to see “funhouse-mirror distortions” as innocuous but there is always something slightly disturbing about seeing ourselves deformed. Goodman has most definitely contorted the standard forms of poetry (interestingly, Merwin never refers to Goodman’s work as poems) but it isn’t only this manipulation we are responding to. Think about it. We move rather quickly through a funhouse, we never linger. But if we did, if we stood there and stared at our misshapen reflection for a while, what strange wonders might occur to us? Goodman has thought about this.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a funny relationship with this book. Sometimes I'm happy to see Famous Americans and other times the book is like that lonely kid on the block that shows up at your door because they're bored. Instead you watch TV and ignore the doorbell ringing. That said, Goodman's book swings between 3.5 to 4.5 for me on the star chart. I think that's because it shines brilliantly in some places and in others it's lumpy. When I say brilliant, I mean laugh-out-loud-funny-kind-of-brilliant. That's a rare quality in a book of poetry and I do agree with the idea I heard Bobbie Louise Hawkins once spout that laughter is the highest form of intelligence. Humor is what makes this book stand out. It's also what makes the text feel lumpy in places because when it's not funny, well.... On that point, the introduction by W.S. Merwin is, in my opinion, wonderfully funny, but not because he intends it to be. Instead, it comes off more as an apology that Merwin chose the book for the Yale Series because we all know that funny poetry cannot be taken seriously. Ultimately, I love this book since it is a welter of impulses and contradictions. It's also one of the few books of poetry that I've read recently that I keep changing my mind about and that's to Goodman's credit. I finished the book over 2 weeks ago and I still find myself thinking about it. That in itself makes it worth the time to read. Well, and all the laughs too.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked "Who Would Win" and "Life of Game." The playfulness with forms was amusing, but in the end, there is nothing important other than style in this book.

[Mark Yakich · Rating 5 out of 5]

An early 21st century classic!

[Sarah Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really psyched about the Don Rickles poem and the yeast poem, too, but as a book this feels more like a lot of jokey poem ideas. Kind of like, "oh, wouldn't it be funny to write a whole poem based on the ambiguity of this one phrase?" repeated for an entire manuscript. Which makes it fun to read but a little slender generally.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Underwhelming. There are a few nice moments in here, but overall I was not impressed. And I know W.S. Merwin praised this book for its humor, but I didn't see that either.

[Apoorva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disruptive, somewhat postmod. Interesting, but as is true of most postmod stuff, not emotionally engaging. Innovation for the heck of it, with little regard for either comprehension or affect.

[Jeff Tigchelaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes.