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Sea Smoke
“Louis Jenkins captures—nails down really!—whole moments in time and space, completely decorated with all the essential textual things needed to make them vibrate and shudder with life.”—Clarence Major
Several of these poems are included in the performance script of NICE FISH, the play.
The 60 new prose poems in Sea Smoke continue Louis Jenkins’ imaginative glimpses of scenes from contemporary life. Many of these pieces begin with the ordinary, but a subtle pivot in language propels the reader into an unexpected and oftentimes humorous perspective from which to view the world anew. Herein the blue moon is unhappy as it gazes into car windows, clouds sweep across the horizon as if serving Genghis Khan, and the poet considers the benefits of Retirement I’ve been thinking of retiring, of selling the poetry business and enjoying my twilight years. It’s a prose poem business, so it’s a niche market. Still, after thirty some years, I must have assets worth well in excess of $300. Perhaps the new owner of the business will want to diversify, go into novels or plays, or perhaps merge into a school or movement. It won’t matter to me once I’ve retired. Maybe I’ll do a little traveling, winter in the Southwest. Take up golf. Spend more time with the family. Maybe I’ll just walk around and look at things with absolutely no compulsion to say anything at all about them . Louis Jenkins lives in Duluth, Minnesota. His poems have been published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies. His books of poetry include An Almost Human Gesture (Eighties Press and Ally Press, 1987), All Tangled Up With the Living (Nineties Press, 1991), Nice New & Selected Prose Poems (Holy Cow! Press, 1995), Just Above Water (Holy Cow! Press, 1997), and The Winter Road (Holy Cow! Press, 2000). Some of his prose poems were published in The Best American Poetry 1999 (Scribner) and in Great American Prose Poems (Scribner, 2003).
Several of these poems are included in the performance script of NICE FISH, the play.
The 60 new prose poems in Sea Smoke continue Louis Jenkins’ imaginative glimpses of scenes from contemporary life. Many of these pieces begin with the ordinary, but a subtle pivot in language propels the reader into an unexpected and oftentimes humorous perspective from which to view the world anew. Herein the blue moon is unhappy as it gazes into car windows, clouds sweep across the horizon as if serving Genghis Khan, and the poet considers the benefits of Retirement I’ve been thinking of retiring, of selling the poetry business and enjoying my twilight years. It’s a prose poem business, so it’s a niche market. Still, after thirty some years, I must have assets worth well in excess of $300. Perhaps the new owner of the business will want to diversify, go into novels or plays, or perhaps merge into a school or movement. It won’t matter to me once I’ve retired. Maybe I’ll do a little traveling, winter in the Southwest. Take up golf. Spend more time with the family. Maybe I’ll just walk around and look at things with absolutely no compulsion to say anything at all about them . Louis Jenkins lives in Duluth, Minnesota. His poems have been published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies. His books of poetry include An Almost Human Gesture (Eighties Press and Ally Press, 1987), All Tangled Up With the Living (Nineties Press, 1991), Nice New & Selected Prose Poems (Holy Cow! Press, 1995), Just Above Water (Holy Cow! Press, 1997), and The Winter Road (Holy Cow! Press, 2000). Some of his prose poems were published in The Best American Poetry 1999 (Scribner) and in Great American Prose Poems (Scribner, 2003).
- GenresPoetry
72 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
2 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
Louis Jenkins
29 books12 followersLouis Jenkins was an American prose poet .He lived in Duluth, Minnesota, with his wife Ann for over four decades. His poems have been published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies. Jenkins was a guest on A Prairie Home Companion numerous times and was also featured on The Writer's Almanac.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 2, 2017
Legend has it that the great Chinese poet Li Po made his newly composed poems into paper boats and let them float away down the Yangtze. Louis Jenkins recommends this practice to poets of today as an alternative to submitting poems to literary magazines.
December 27, 2018
Another book of poems, picked off a library shelf while waiting for G to find his library selections. This one caught my eye because of the title. "Sea Smoke like Lake Superior" I thought, and tucked it in with my selections. Turns out the author is from my city & the Sea Smoke is indeed like Lake Superior. I always read author blurbs at the very end of a book.
Library read. It's fun finding references to where I live.
Library read. It's fun finding references to where I live.
May 21, 2018
3.5 stars.
I did like this, very much actually. I can't make up my mind to 4 or 5 stars. It may take time. It's at a weird plane between folksy and epiphany. A first and second read-through allows me to enjoy the humor, but I find myself asking how many of the poems do more.
Definitely recommended to non-poetry readers. Understandable with very little of the big-word-love that infests most poems (which I love but which I think is a turn off to many readers). Funny.
I did like this, very much actually. I can't make up my mind to 4 or 5 stars. It may take time. It's at a weird plane between folksy and epiphany. A first and second read-through allows me to enjoy the humor, but I find myself asking how many of the poems do more.
Definitely recommended to non-poetry readers. Understandable with very little of the big-word-love that infests most poems (which I love but which I think is a turn off to many readers). Funny.
March 7, 2016
As I make my way through the works of Louis Jenkins, I think this one is my favorite so far, but I think I say that after each one I read, and will say after the next one.
"Imaginary Reader" and "Where Go the Boats" were my favorites
"Imaginary Reader" and "Where Go the Boats" were my favorites
June 29, 2010
My review of Sea Smoke is up at my blog: http://theprairielibrary.blogspot.com...
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews