The Little That Is All

by John Ciardi

Responsibilty and reality are the author's primary interests in this collection of works

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1974

About the author

John Anthony Ciardi was an American poet, translator, editor, writer and etymologist.

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another book that came to me accidentally via a library book sale. I knew of John Ciardi and so picked up the book for .50 or .10, whatever pittance it was going for. The poetry in it is competent but I kept it primarily for those that are amusing, such as "On the Orthodoxy and Creed of My Power Mower," which provides a valid impression of the general subject matter of the book: conventional, suburban, middle-aged--with full awareness of life's absurdity even in the simplest things. There's a poem about his digging a hole in his yard to the dismay and perplexity of various people around him. In typical, yet humorous, middle-aged fashion, he bemoans the activities and choices of his children in a section called "Generation Gap." But he does all of this with considerable language art and often an elevated diction that adds to the humor. I liked this book but could really only recommend it to someone caught in that suburban middle to upper middle class life who needs to laugh at themselves and their general situation. I'll risk quoting most of "Encounter":

"We," said my young radical neighbor, smashing my window,
"speak the essential conscience of mankind."

"If it comes to no more than small breakage," I said, "speak away.
but tell me, isn't smashing some fun for its own sake.."

"We will not be dismissed as frivolous," he said,
grabbing my crowbar and starting to climb to the roof.

"You are seriously taken," I said, raising my shotgun.
"Please weigh seriously how close the range is."

"Fascist!" he said, climbing down. "Or are you a liberal
trying to fake me with no shells in that thing?"

"I'm a lamb at windows, a lion on roofs," I told him.
"You'll more or less have to guess for yourself what's loaded

until you decide to call what may be a bluff.
Meanwhile, you are also my neighbor's son:

if you'll drop that crowbar and help me pick up this glass,
I could squeeze a ham-on-rye from my tax structure

________

So leave this book alone unless you can laugh at both yourself and others.

[Damien Cowger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Save for a few rare moments, I spent most of the book rolling my eyes at pretentious language and absurd syntax.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was this type of poetry that apparently was popular when I was young that made me think I didn't like any poetry. Only one or two out of the collection would I ever care to come across again