Great America: Poems

by James McManus

A book of poetry.

103 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1993

About the author

James "Jim" McManus is an American poker player, teacher and writer living in Kenilworth, Illinois.

Reviews

[Michael P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Is McManus even a poet? The answer is yes
and there are a few actual poems in this collection,

but not many. The actual poems are the best bits,
though I am not overwhelmed by them. One of his

tricks is to write little prose pieces, often rambling
and always unprofound, that the then chops into something

that look like verse on the page, and I am doing with
this review. I hope my doing so make the point

that layout alone does not make a poem, for this
is certainly not a poem. Walt Whitman was a truly

great poet, but sometimes a truly horrible poet. Some
of his more horrible poems are little more than

list of things. McManus makes lists of things and
calls them poems. Another dead end in modern poetry

is finding words somewhere and quoting them, pretending
those words make up poems. McManus has page after

page of personal ads masquerading as poetry. There is
a reason that most modern “poets” who do this
share their work with one another over the internet:

nobody else cares. This is a truly crappy book of

poetry. Do not waste your time.

[James Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

James McManus writes a vision of America projected with wit that sees true and language that defines as it rivets our attention. Here is the cultural cornucopia of America spilled on the page. The long poem of the title presents the people who make up America, brief snapshots of those tiny voices who are the ingredients of our temper. I admire the verbal bravado able to capture the edges of towns where chain link meets the tired countryside, able to see the empty light in a stripper's eyes, able to find the glory in Jimi Hendrix's reverb-charged rendering of the national anthem. This is better poetry than I remembered.