Playlist

by David Lehman

"What a gorgeous and ambitious poem this is—an elegy, a calendar, an enactment of beauty, a tribute to singers and musicians and those who love them, a musical compilation, a meditation on friendship and art, an evocation of hopefulness and the possibility of enhanced life, a summoning . . ."
—Lee Upton

Genres: Poetry

72 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2019

About the author

David Lehman is a poet and the series editor for The Best American Poetry series. He teaches at The New School in New York City.

Reviews

[Ace Boggess]

I read this book in one sitting, interrupted only by a brief smoke break, and probably will read it again today. I enjoyed it that much. While Playlist purports to be be "a poem," each segment a meditation on the music of a day, I found it more a collection and, most importantly, a return to form for poet David Lehman, recapturing the magic of the daily poems from his books The Daily Mirror and The Evening Sun. These pieces thrum and muse. They dance. They mourn. The poems (or segments) are kinetic and playful. They carry the reader along at full speed but nonetheless with full stops in between. I've often said that one of the best aspects a poet can have is the ability to show reverence and irreverence for the same subject at the same time. Lehman is a master of this. In "12/21/17" amidst the sadness of nostalgia for deceased friends A.R. Ammons and John Ashbery, Lehman writes:

"and later that day I wrote
a poem for John Ashbery
let's have it, he said.
okay I said here goes
and John said he liked it
particularly the third line
(the poem was two lines long)"

This book is filled with remembrances of these poets, but also the joys of music and old movies. Playlist is such a wonderful book to read. I only wish it were a hundred pages longer.

[Ix]

What a beautiful book. You'll find yourself soon surrounded by music, coffee, cigarettes, and poetry.
What a beautiful ode to a friend. What a way to get by each day. Life.
"One piece of advice to a young writer. Play Count Basie, 'April in Paris', and write."

[Anne, Unfinished Woman]

Interesting approach to writing poetry in remembrance of A. R. Ammons (Archie), each day listening to various pieces of music...jazz, old favorites, classical...