Jersey Rain

by Robert Pinsky

Hermes, the great trickster god of music and deception, guides readers through this poetic meditation on the great themes of life by America's Poet Laureate. 15,000 first printing.

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

First published April 1, 2000

About the author

Robert Pinsky is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of which are collections of his own poetry. His published work also includes critically acclaimed translations, including The Inferno of Dante Alighieri and The Separate Notebooks by Czesław Miłosz. He teaches at Boston University and is the poetry editor at Slate.
wikipedia

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of boring, actually. I mean, Pinsky had, for the most part, the same technical style that I noticed in History of My Heart, but these poems just seemed... not very interesting or particularly inspired. The alphabet ones (especially the second, which, I think, is supposed to be a prose poem) threw me off; they seemed like assignments he gave to his students that he, on a whim, did on his own and used to fill in some extra pages. I also didn't get much of a sense of place, even though this should have more to do with New Jersey considering the title chosen for the book. (That poem, which shares the book's title, also didn't seem to have much to do with New Jersey.)

Overall, the poems just aren't tight enough to be as good as the ones in History of My Heart, and they're not universal enough to engage me. I may save my other Pinsky books for later to read.

[Anders · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I've reviewed another of Pinsky's books: The Situation of Poetry, which was not a poetry collection but a diagnosis of poetry. Anyway, this is the first actual collection of poetry of his I'm getting around to finishing, despite liking the guy for a while now. I was originally inspired to take an interest because I ran into a song by Akron/Family, "Samurai," that was adapted from his poem, "Samurai Song." I really loved the song and the poem and so I wanted to hear more from the form poet laureate of the U.S.

I want to say I really loved this collection, but it just didn't hit the mark for me. Is Pinsky a skilled poet? Terribly, terribly skilled. I still love "Samurai Song" and there are some other in the collection I admired: "Ode to Meaning," "Autumn Quartet," "The Green Piano," and "Steel Drum Variations." Ultimately though I found myself still thinking in terms of the comment I posted: either he's too clever or I'm not clever enough. There's something else though, Pinsky likes to meditate on death a lot, many of his poems center around it. There's nothing wrong with that; I like the theme a lot. But the way he does it, it's melancholy in a resigned way, quiet. Not quiet as in reserved, but quiet as in silent. Like there's nothing to be said. Maybe there isn't, honestly, but something about that just didn't capture me like I expected it would. I would say a similar drawback for me was the understated nature of some of his metaphors. I know that the rule of modernism is obscurity but I suppose I can really only suffer that to such an extent.

There were some great things though. I definitely don't regret reading this collection and I already own others of his that I'll no doubt end up reading. He has a way of summoning up classical references that I enjoyed. He mentions Achilles, Thersites, Odysseus, some of my favorites and I think he alludes to them well--an added joy for me as a classicist.

He's got some masterful diction and structure to his poems. At the end though I found myself losing patience. I might have to revisit this in the future. I would recommend this to people who are looking for American poetry of the modernist vein, fairly traditional.

I do feel bad about giving this only 3 stars. "Samurai Song" is a 5-star poem. I just wasn't super impressed like I thought I'd be. OH WELL.

[Alarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pinsky has been a leader in American poetry for decades in addition to being U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997-2000. In other words, he knows more about poetry than I do, so rather than review his work, I’m just going to share some of my favorite moments in Jersey Rain.

Kudos to him for writing the tightest abecedarian I’ve ever read. In “ABC,” he moves from A to B to Z in 26 words. Why bother with entire lines to make the form work when you can pull it off his way, which seems appropriate to the brevity of life, since his poem begins, “Anybody can die, evidently.”

He follows that with a very different sort of abecedarian in a long prose poem: “An Alphabet of My Dead,” in which he thinks about those who’ve gone on before him in lieu of counting sheep when he has insomnia.

My favorite poem in the collection is “The Green Piano,” which chronicles the amusing family history of a bulky piano, free to the Pinsky family for carting it away. He addresses the poem to “you,” the piano:

“You blocked a doorway and filled most of the living room.
The sofa and chairs dwindled to a ram and ewes, cowering: now,
The colored neighbors could be positive we were crazy and rich…”

My favorite passage sums up the universal nature of humanity (“The Tragic Chorus”):

“The Chorus shouting and thrusting and retreating in unison,
Their gestures fluid, then stiff, then again fluid, fully
Prescribed as in Yom Kippur, Ramadan or Easter ritual
But also Super Bowl, also highschool tourney or rally
Local as much as divine, the ecstatic piety communal.”

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, another collection of hit or miss poems for me and Pinsky. I had a poetry teacher once tell me of a abecedarian (like the alphabet poems that show up in this collection) that they are party-favor poetry, tricks to hand out as a joke and forget about. And I agree that "ABC" in particular felt completely throw-away. "An Alphabet of My Dead," on the other hand, because of its wonderful narratives, was one of my favorites. Another one that stuck with me was "Samurai Song." Overall, what Iáve learned after three chapbooks from Pinsky is that I like him best when he leans toward narrative instead of lyrical poetry. I enjoyed spending time in his voice, though. There is something here that rings within me. If I was to go back and do this again, I think a "selected poems" probably would have been a better choice.

[Julie Lund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short book of poems. I was glad that I read his memoir before I read the poems. I think it made them more meaningful, even though the memoir is a recent publication.
Once a Jersey person, always a Jersey citizen. An elite group 😂

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a national treasure. He has become one of my favorite poets

[Peter B Waddell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way form and style, voice and content are rethought with every poem. No formulae. New ideas mulled and offered as responses from a person in time.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent collection. one of the better modern poets.

[Cassidy Cassidy43 · Rating 1 out of 5]

one star is harsh but I was just bored. ‘Machines’ was nice and so was ‘Jersey Rain’ but they aren’t exactly hero’s of this collection. That alphabet poem was a choice. I feel like this poetry collection was kind of just observations that don’t really prove much. There wasn’t a hook. I liked the small references to Mythology, but they were mixed with mundane references to just people of the neighbourhood. It seems like a lot of people love this so feel free to acquiesce to their opinions. I could give this collection more time and reread every poem for meaning - I just don’t trust that it would be worth my time.

[Ross Felton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of great work in this collection, some clunkers too, but hey, that's poetry baby

[Jenna King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of this poetry is pretty pretentious, but I did enjoy reading it, and the titular poem was one of my favorites

[Anna Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

a bit stuffy compared to the poetry I like to read.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine. Nothing really spoke to me.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having recently finished Gulf Music, I think that reading Jersey Rain helped me understand the poet behind the poetry more. Several poems in the former collection refer to people that he named and explained in the latter poems (particularly "An Alphabet of My Dead"). I especially love that Robert Pinsky does not expect one to pick up on every allusion, and in fact, the very mystery of it lends to the reader's delight.

Of all the poems in this collection, I love "The Green Piano" the most. Pinsky employs such creative imagery, likening this enormous piano to livestock, to a beast, to an elephant - for size and ivories - this large and living thing. He attaches the piano both to fond memories - "bonging" away at favorite showtunes - and to more emotional ones, such as his mother's terrible fall. I was laughing aloud when reading parts of this to my pianist husband; we took such delight from such a well-crafted poem.

[Tommy Salami · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up to read sporadically while working on an art project since I couldn't focus on the novel I was on at the time. Plus that novel, Money by Martin Amis, has turned out to be a disappointment that I'll drop for the time being until I've read his other books and other books by other writers I'm more interested in before I return to it. Anyways, Jersey Rain was decent. I liked "Samurai Song", "Vessel" and "Machines" a lot and a few others, like the one one about the museum. There are impressive lines and ideas strewn throughout the poems, stuff that gets me going. Not the greatest thing I've ever read and often had that placid quality in tone that is common to so much modern poetry, even when his references and the words he used are literally epic and charged with grandiosity by the associations they raise in the reader. Maybe I'll pick it back up in 10 or 20 years to see if I get anything else out of it.

[Sur Cur Lengel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My talking is simply eavesdropping:
I note the clatter on my tongue--
Its urgency and audacity
adjusting, shoving and arranging.
I oblige
A final, awkward rattle
In my muttering.

Amazingly,
You gambol
And skillfully traipse
Throughout the mess,
Assuasive and tenderhearted.

(CONVERSATIONS WITH MY WIFE June 1982)

[Donald Armfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

My third Robert Pinsky book and another amazing read. My favorites

Samurai Song
Autumn Quartet
ABC
An Alphabet of My Dead
The Haunted Ruin
To Television
The Green Piano

In Alphabet of My Death he goes through a list of people he once knew. Relatives, friends and famous. In an alphabetical slaughter thought it was a very well hit concept.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed many of the poems in this book, but the one on the very last page has been staying with me the most. The first stanza of "Jersey Rain":

Now near the end of the middle stretch of road
What have I learned? Some earthly wiles. An art.
That often I cannot tell good fortune from bad,
That once had seemed so easy to tell apart.

[Sam Albala · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have heard from friends that this is not the best Pinsky book, which makes me very excited to pick up more! I loved his style and phrasing and intellectual way of discussing history and literature. All poets should be subtle when using their knowledge and I believe he does that. I think it makes the reader engaged and unintimidated. I cannot wait to read and hear more from him!

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of Pinsky. I saw him read at my college and he was amazing.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was filed w/juvenile poetry at the library. apparently the person filing thought this was the famous kidlit artist, which is why i checked it out. no illustrations.

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't sing or surprise, just sloshed along, though the "An Alphabet of My Dead" which, was exactly what the title suggests, delivered in a sad way.

[Ulysses Bougie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just really love the first poem bless; the rest are also nice, though; the alphabet poems are bits are 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼