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Canon Fodder: Poems Inspired by Classic Literature
WINNER of the Writer's Digest first place award for BEST SELF-PUBLISHED POETRY COLLECTION in 2023"Sizemore's book is the best I've read in months." - John Guzlowski, author of Mad Monk Ikkyu
We often see lists of books online with titles like "THE TOP 100 NOVELS OF ALL TIME." How many of them have you read?
During the pandemic, poet Jay Sizemore decided to try and read them all. Not only would he read the books on such lists that he had never read before, but he would also write poetry inspired by those texts. The project would consume his life for nearly two years, taking an immense amount of dedication and ambition. But the resulting poems ended up being powerful tightrope acts, attempting to unify the creative worlds of prose and poetry by connecting the genres in fundamentally intriguing ways.
For those people out there who are interested in the themes and the value of classic literature, here, Sizemore has tried to distill these epic volumes down to poem-sized appetizers, while retaining their essential nutrients. If you don't have time to read the thousand page epic Moby-Dick, for instance, Sizemore's poem based on that text is just three pages.
In Canon Fodder, Sizemore wrote poems based on readings of books such as The Grapes of Wrath, Frankenstein, Anna Karenina, Don Quixote, Crime and Punishment, Ulysses, and many, many more. To see the full list of books that he read, and the resulting poems within the collection, pick up this book.
The goal is to get inspired by classic literature, work that has outlived the time of its creation, and continues to fascinate in its ever-present relevance and cathartic power. This is poetry that should appeal to poetry lovers and poetry neophytes alike, poetry that bridges the gap between fiction and verse and brings both worlds together for the sake of the love of art.
If you are a lover of art, and especially a lover of great literature, you need this book. Get it today.
PRAISE FOR CANON
“In an age when most poetry collections are quiet affairs, slender in size and modest in ambition, Jay Sizemore’s Canon Fodder swims through the ocean of contemporary poetry like Moby Dick, huge and unstoppable. Sizemore is to poetry what Jack Kerouac is to fiction, a passionate, funny, deeply human voice trying to catch the whole world in words.” — George Bilgere, author of Blood Pages
“Never trust a poet who has no interest in reading great literature, which, as Dr. Johnson teaches us, is a kind of intellectual light, like the light of the sun that enables us to see. Jay Sizemore is that rare breed of poet who sees clearly and sings beautifully. And he writes with more honesty and erudition than anyone I’ve read in a long time.”
— Norman Minnick, author of Advice for a Young Poet
“If you love writing and great literature, you’ve got to read Jay Sizemore’s Canon Poems Inspired by Classic Literature. He writes like nobody else.
Sizemore writes and comments beautifully and evocatively the nature of the self, the hunger of the dying, the fate and impermanence of art, the world we live in with its mass Walmart shootings and its funerals, and its joyful dancings and yearnings.
My first creative writing teacher told me the best response to a piece of writing is another piece of writing. Jay Sizemore has learned that lesson better than anyone I’ve read in a decade.
We often see lists of books online with titles like "THE TOP 100 NOVELS OF ALL TIME." How many of them have you read?
During the pandemic, poet Jay Sizemore decided to try and read them all. Not only would he read the books on such lists that he had never read before, but he would also write poetry inspired by those texts. The project would consume his life for nearly two years, taking an immense amount of dedication and ambition. But the resulting poems ended up being powerful tightrope acts, attempting to unify the creative worlds of prose and poetry by connecting the genres in fundamentally intriguing ways.
For those people out there who are interested in the themes and the value of classic literature, here, Sizemore has tried to distill these epic volumes down to poem-sized appetizers, while retaining their essential nutrients. If you don't have time to read the thousand page epic Moby-Dick, for instance, Sizemore's poem based on that text is just three pages.
In Canon Fodder, Sizemore wrote poems based on readings of books such as The Grapes of Wrath, Frankenstein, Anna Karenina, Don Quixote, Crime and Punishment, Ulysses, and many, many more. To see the full list of books that he read, and the resulting poems within the collection, pick up this book.
The goal is to get inspired by classic literature, work that has outlived the time of its creation, and continues to fascinate in its ever-present relevance and cathartic power. This is poetry that should appeal to poetry lovers and poetry neophytes alike, poetry that bridges the gap between fiction and verse and brings both worlds together for the sake of the love of art.
If you are a lover of art, and especially a lover of great literature, you need this book. Get it today.
PRAISE FOR CANON
“In an age when most poetry collections are quiet affairs, slender in size and modest in ambition, Jay Sizemore’s Canon Fodder swims through the ocean of contemporary poetry like Moby Dick, huge and unstoppable. Sizemore is to poetry what Jack Kerouac is to fiction, a passionate, funny, deeply human voice trying to catch the whole world in words.” — George Bilgere, author of Blood Pages
“Never trust a poet who has no interest in reading great literature, which, as Dr. Johnson teaches us, is a kind of intellectual light, like the light of the sun that enables us to see. Jay Sizemore is that rare breed of poet who sees clearly and sings beautifully. And he writes with more honesty and erudition than anyone I’ve read in a long time.”
— Norman Minnick, author of Advice for a Young Poet
“If you love writing and great literature, you’ve got to read Jay Sizemore’s Canon Poems Inspired by Classic Literature. He writes like nobody else.
Sizemore writes and comments beautifully and evocatively the nature of the self, the hunger of the dying, the fate and impermanence of art, the world we live in with its mass Walmart shootings and its funerals, and its joyful dancings and yearnings.
My first creative writing teacher told me the best response to a piece of writing is another piece of writing. Jay Sizemore has learned that lesson better than anyone I’ve read in a decade.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 15, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 28, 2022
I was immediately taken by the concept of this poetry collection before I ever read the first line. Here, Sizemore has created a poetic reading journal of sorts. As he journeyed through some of the classics of the Western literary canon, he recorded words and concepts and stylistic choices that stood out to him, and wrote a piece for each of the works he read. I found this absolutely fascinating, if also a slightly mixed bag for my personal taste.
Some of these poems were absolutely brilliant. Pieces inspired by Tolstoy and Austen, Carroll and the Brontës and Orwell, were masterful. The way Sizemore was able to evoke the tone and style and message of each author without outright mimicking them was not only commendable, it was utterly fascinating. The breadth of styles encapsulated in this single collection is honestly astounding.
But then there were the poems paying homage to writers like Kerouac, Joyce, Vonnegut, Bukowski, and the like. Writers I either actively dislike or have avoided because I knew they wouldn’t appeal to me. Sizemore very successfully conveyed these just as well as he did those that I love and enjoy. But in reading the works evoking these authors, I discovered something about myself; I am evidently a prude. Some of these pieces were so appallingly vulgar in their language and sexual connotations that I found myself clutching my imaginary pearls as I read. That content was so unexpected and jarring that I found myself unable to enjoy those poems. I can appreciate the artistry behind those pieces, but they definitely weren’t to my taste.
My rating here is incredibly subjective. For sheer craftsmanship and vision, this is a 5 star collection. For my personal enjoyment, it was a 3 star, because the pieces that made me uncomfortable were in the majority. So I’m splitting it in the middle with my overall rating. If you’re a lover of classics, especially the edgier corners of the canon, this collection could contain your new favorite poems.
Some of these poems were absolutely brilliant. Pieces inspired by Tolstoy and Austen, Carroll and the Brontës and Orwell, were masterful. The way Sizemore was able to evoke the tone and style and message of each author without outright mimicking them was not only commendable, it was utterly fascinating. The breadth of styles encapsulated in this single collection is honestly astounding.
But then there were the poems paying homage to writers like Kerouac, Joyce, Vonnegut, Bukowski, and the like. Writers I either actively dislike or have avoided because I knew they wouldn’t appeal to me. Sizemore very successfully conveyed these just as well as he did those that I love and enjoy. But in reading the works evoking these authors, I discovered something about myself; I am evidently a prude. Some of these pieces were so appallingly vulgar in their language and sexual connotations that I found myself clutching my imaginary pearls as I read. That content was so unexpected and jarring that I found myself unable to enjoy those poems. I can appreciate the artistry behind those pieces, but they definitely weren’t to my taste.
My rating here is incredibly subjective. For sheer craftsmanship and vision, this is a 5 star collection. For my personal enjoyment, it was a 3 star, because the pieces that made me uncomfortable were in the majority. So I’m splitting it in the middle with my overall rating. If you’re a lover of classics, especially the edgier corners of the canon, this collection could contain your new favorite poems.
September 14, 2022
While I am not usually a consumer of poetry, I am very glad I made an exception in this case and read this collection.
I really like the author's idea to write poems based off of literature. It exposed me to some works I was unfamiliar with and now want to read, and also gave an interesting new twist to some books I've already read and loved, such as Animal Farm and 1984. My only complaint about the Animal Farm poem is that I wish it was longer! "Some Thoughts While Drowning" and "Death Can't Wear a Mustache" are a couple others that I liked.
In several of the poems in this book the writing is very rich and ornate, and I feel that if I were to read them more than once, especially over time, I would glean different messages and meanings than the first go around. I have read another book by this author, "Thieves", and I very much enjoyed that experience. The author seems to have deepened and grown his artistic and creative talent since having released Thieves, and the difference between the two books in the artistic sense is significant; the author's talent has increased noticeably.
This book is something that stimulates deeper thought and makes the reader look at the world and it's detail in a different light. The fact that the author was able to take such perfect, beautiful works of literature and then somehow be able to expand on them even more is proof that true creativity has limitless potential.
Christmas is coming up and this book would make a fantastic gift for either a poetry-loving bookworm or as a casual coffee-table book. There's a little something in there for everyone! I am looking forward to reading more of this author's work, and I hope that whoever reads this book appreciates it as much as I did!
I really like the author's idea to write poems based off of literature. It exposed me to some works I was unfamiliar with and now want to read, and also gave an interesting new twist to some books I've already read and loved, such as Animal Farm and 1984. My only complaint about the Animal Farm poem is that I wish it was longer! "Some Thoughts While Drowning" and "Death Can't Wear a Mustache" are a couple others that I liked.
In several of the poems in this book the writing is very rich and ornate, and I feel that if I were to read them more than once, especially over time, I would glean different messages and meanings than the first go around. I have read another book by this author, "Thieves", and I very much enjoyed that experience. The author seems to have deepened and grown his artistic and creative talent since having released Thieves, and the difference between the two books in the artistic sense is significant; the author's talent has increased noticeably.
This book is something that stimulates deeper thought and makes the reader look at the world and it's detail in a different light. The fact that the author was able to take such perfect, beautiful works of literature and then somehow be able to expand on them even more is proof that true creativity has limitless potential.
Christmas is coming up and this book would make a fantastic gift for either a poetry-loving bookworm or as a casual coffee-table book. There's a little something in there for everyone! I am looking forward to reading more of this author's work, and I hope that whoever reads this book appreciates it as much as I did!
September 18, 2022
This book is remarkable. Sizemore read 100 classic novels, ranging from the surreal (Ulysses anyone?) to the ponderous (Moby Dick and I have a love-hate relationship, and no amount of lit therapy is going to improve that). He wrote a poem responding to each. Reading 100 classics by itself is an achievement; the poetic responses are a triumph.
If you've been looking for the inspiration to work your way through the classics, this book will do it. "My hands soft fires/burning water/from the trees" is a stanza that begs us to turn to Faulkner, to find out what he's all about. If on the other hand, you've read many of the classics, slogging your way through them in a World Civ class with requirements to annotate/analyze/beat to death in essay form, these poems will bring you back to them for their beauty and insight: "Don't give your heart/to something wild/the sea, or the wind" will remind you that Capote's Holly Golightly is not the charming manic-pixie-dream-girl of the movie. Basically, whatever relationship to the classics you want to have, this book will help you have it.
Besides, the poetry is just beautiful. I'll leave this review with one final example -- I'm a huge Ferlinghetti fan and get squeamish about people "poeming" about his poems, but Sizemore did it, and did it well.
"Looks at all those stars,
if you can still see them through the smog.
And if you can't, I promise
they're still back there, beating
their seemingly forever beats..."
September 19, 2022
Jay Sizemore's book, Canon Fodder, takes the reader on a unique and beautiful trip through classic literature. His poems are inspired by some of the greatest literary works by some of our greatest authors. From Cormac McCarthy to William Faulkner, he writes pieces that resonate in style and substance. Mr. Sizemore is fantastic writer, but a project like this, a collection so daring in breadth and calculus, surprised me by just how gorgeous it is.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews