Collected Poems

by David Markson

"Markson is regarded as an inventive literary stylist in the manner of James Joyce, William Gaddis, and Malcolm Lowry . . . and many critics have commented that his compressed, highly allusive fiction verges on poetry." In view of such a judgment (from Contemporary Literary Criticism), it should surely come as less than a surprise that Markson has indeed written poems through much of his career, the best of which are gathered here for the first time. "Some are only playful," he indicates in a casually self-deprecating foreword, while certain others "are lyrics of a type generally deemed antiquated." Nonetheless, both these and his more ambitious efforts bear witness to Markson's lifelong creative absorption with such subjects as literature, art, music, the creative process, love and its loss, death, male-female relationshipsnot to mention drink, sex, even certain cherished aspects of the female anatomy. And, any "surprise" here, then, is finally perhaps only at Markson's stunning poetic variants on those extraordinary qualities that vitalize his prose.

Genres: Poetry

94 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 1993

About the author

David Markson was an American novelist, born David Merrill Markson in Albany, New York. He is the author of several postmodern novels, including This is Not a Novel, Springer's Progress, and Wittgenstein's Mistress. His most recent work, The Last Novel, was published in 2007 and received a positive review in the New York Times, which called it "a real tour de force."

Markson's work is characterized by an unconventional approach to narration and plot. While his early works may draw on the modernist tradition of William Faulkner and Malcolm Lowry, Markson says his later novels are "literally crammed with literary and artistic anecdotes" and "nonlinear, discontinuous, collage-like, an assemblage."

Dalkey Archive Press has published several of his novels. In December 2006, publishers Shoemaker & Hoard republished two of Markson's early crime novels Epitaph for a Tramp and Epitaph for a Dead Beat in one volume.

In addition to his novels, he has published a book of poetry and a critical study of Malcolm Lowry.

The movie Dirty Dingus Magee, starring Frank Sinatra, is based on Markson's first novel, The Ballad of Dingus Magee, an anti-Western. He wrote three crime novels early in his career.

Educated at Union College and Columbia University, Markson began his writing career as a journalist and book editor, periodically taking up work as a college professor at Columbia University, Long Island University, and The New School.

Markson died in his New York City, West Village apartment.

Reviews

[Alan]

No, not Markson’s best, but poetry is poetry (unless we are coming up against two lines on a blank page that say He didn’t like Drama and I was fucking Shakespeare). Mostly poetry about the act of reading literature and how authors and books have been there as the days have gone by, mementos of specific inflection points for Markson.

Here are two I thought were kind of cool. The first is Johanna:

My daughter needing half a dollar takes
A ten and promises the change.
She brings me four, the balance having gone
On Vonnegut and Margaret Mead.

I notice both that evening at her desk
Beside a Taming of the Shrew
And Strunk and White on elements of style.
She’ll be at college in the fall.

One summer day I flung her round my neck
And ran so fast she vomited for joy.

This one is Daily Reviewer-Haupt:

What bile must rise within his throat
O’er all those books, not one he wrote!
Ah, let the wretch our spawn berate:
The bold make love; some masturbate.

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is this the greatest book of poetry I have ever read? No. That would be by Shelley (Pete Shelley, of The Buzzcocks). Does it deserve the slamming it gets in the other reviews here? Shit, no. Here's the thing: out of context, a lot of this wouldn't work. But Markson was a strict adherent to what Zappa coined 'conceptual continuity,' and this little bastard fits right into every other thing he ever did. So yes: there's a poem in here that was eventually given to a character in Miss Doll, Go Home. Another that surfaces in part in Springer's, etc. Taken as a single patch of the larger quilt (what a shit metaphor), this is indispensable. Not only that, a lot of it is damn funny. DM was in on the joke: he writes poems about how bad his poetry is. But did he venerate and eulogize Dylan Thomas, his friend, at every opportunity, or claim to be his heir? Exactly. If you're doing the Full Markson, you can't skip it. Sorry. I'm watching.

DRAWBACK: little sonofabitch is pricey!

DISCLAIMER: I'm rounding up to 4-stars because I want to encourage readership, and because it's my review and I'll cry if I wanna.

[Jack Waters · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remember when Mos Def/Li'l Wayne/Vanilla Ice made a rock album?

Remember when Garth Brooks made a Chris Gaines album?

Remember when Lynch made Dune?

Remember when Bob Dylan made Christian music?

Remember when Pink Floyd had neither Syd Barrett nor Roger Waters as a member?

Remember when Willie Mays was on the Mets?

Remember when Michael Jordan played for the Wizards?

Remember when the forgettable is that which is remembered?

[c.vance c.vance · Rating 1 out of 5]

up until page 60, there wasn't a damn thing in there worth the paper it was written on.
even after that, there were just a few guffaws... nothing well written, no thought. pages of wasted words and time.

another example of how it helps to marry your lit agent.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love David Markson. I miss David Markson.

[Маx Nestelieiev · Rating 4 out of 5]

"не поет, хоч це до болю мало... не пророк...". Марксон однозначно мав музичний слух, але вірші у нього не ліричні, а медитативні, не емоційні, а раціональні, що теж непогано, але це не його. із цінного в цій збірці - два спогади, про Конрада Айкена і Ділана Томаса. прочитав лише задля того, щоб завершити всі тексти Марксона.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poetry is more like a 3, but I'm a sucker for the appendices at the end.

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first finished book of 2010!

Markson's novels are very experimental, but his poetry is fairly traditional. A lot of it is rhyming, and much of it is very funny. He was not a phenomenal, jaw-dropping poet by any means, but he was good. Reading this collection, Markson's love of the language is evident.

Dalkey Archive Press is amazing.