Everything Is Burning: Poems

by Gerald Stern

"Ruthless and occasionally outrageous, Stern's literary songs are sharp, surprising, and unerring in their delivery."—Ploughshares, Editor's Choice

In his fourteenth collection, Gerald Stern gives us sharp, focused, political - occasionally outrageous - poems that delve deep into their subjects and transform reality. As in previous collections, Stern uses his personal history as a source for his literary songs, but the poems in Everything Is Burning are more ruthless, more honest, in their lack of self-pity and full realization of possibility.

Genres: Poetry

98 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Gerald Stern, the author of seventeen poetry collections, has won the National Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Ruth Lilly Prize, and the Wallace Stevens Award, among others. He lives in Lambertville, New Jersey.

Reviews

[Janée Baugher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, this isn't my favorite book by this author. Banal, conversational, lacking imagery.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a couple excellent poems in here - "The Law," for example, and "Cigars" - both for the most part I think they lacked spark. There's also a bit too much "I" in here, not the all-encompassing "I" of Whitman, but the "I" of Gerald Stern and what he's having for lunch. I really like Stern, but was disappointed in this book and its big ego.
Hey, great cover image, though.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have no idea what is happening in half of these poems. Rather, I have no idea what thread connects the images and ideas. I kind of dig that. Reminds me somewhat of William Carlos Williams, circa The Desert Music, in how fast he moves from one thing to the next. All in all, a lovely bedtime companion, that Gerald Stern.

[Dana Jerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This guy needs a better editor. His syntax is kinda broken in a bad way. But I enjoyed Corsets and Battle of the Bulge and The Law. Skip it altogether unless some philistine academic is making you read it for course (coarse) credit.

[Tom Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

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