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toniclark's review against another edition
5.0
About Beasley's previous collection, Theories of Falling, I said: "The speaker is educated, intellectual, wise perhaps beyond her years. Truly an artist." I also said, "[Her poems] make me want to push the books aside and get back to writing." That goes double for Beasley's more recent collection, I Was the Jukebox.
I hardly know where to begin. This is fabulous work, one of my favorite poetry collections. The poems are vivid, complex, and to me, endlessly fascinating. (How does she do it??)
I absolutely love the poem "You Were You," which contains the line that gives the book its title. This is the one I had to read to my nonpoet husband.
"I dreamt we were in your favorite bar:
You were you, I was the jukebox.
I played Sam Cooke for you,
but you didn't look over once.
I wanted to dance. I wanted a scotch.
I wanted you to take your hand off of her. . . . "
And so many others. I love the way that Beasley gives voice to inanimate objects: Sand, The Piano, The Eggplant, The World War. Oh and the ending of The World War Speaks is so brilliant. I'll not ruin it for you here. Read the poem. Oh and I love the poem, My God:
"He smiles when astronauts reach
zero gravity and say My god, My god."
Lots of anaphora, lots of repetition. I find that I like it, that she makes it work. There's a lot of playfulness here, but the poems are highly intellectual. Cerebral, as another reviewer here puts it.
By the way, poet friends, in the Acknowledgements, Beasley says, "Many of the poems came out of NaPoWriMo."
I hardly know where to begin. This is fabulous work, one of my favorite poetry collections. The poems are vivid, complex, and to me, endlessly fascinating. (How does she do it??)
I absolutely love the poem "You Were You," which contains the line that gives the book its title. This is the one I had to read to my nonpoet husband.
"I dreamt we were in your favorite bar:
You were you, I was the jukebox.
I played Sam Cooke for you,
but you didn't look over once.
I wanted to dance. I wanted a scotch.
I wanted you to take your hand off of her. . . . "
And so many others. I love the way that Beasley gives voice to inanimate objects: Sand, The Piano, The Eggplant, The World War. Oh and the ending of The World War Speaks is so brilliant. I'll not ruin it for you here. Read the poem. Oh and I love the poem, My God:
"He smiles when astronauts reach
zero gravity and say My god, My god."
Lots of anaphora, lots of repetition. I find that I like it, that she makes it work. There's a lot of playfulness here, but the poems are highly intellectual. Cerebral, as another reviewer here puts it.
By the way, poet friends, in the Acknowledgements, Beasley says, "Many of the poems came out of NaPoWriMo."
bound_by_books's review against another edition
5.0
I loved, loved, loved this collection! (possibly more than Theories of Falling). First, the title alone caught my attention, and this happened to be the first of Sandra Beasley's collection I had read. I was extremely impressed with her style, and how each of her poems had a unique flow, yet worked well together. I loved how she was an eggplant in a sestina format, which happens to be one of my favorite ways to write poetry.I look forward to reading her novel Don't Kill the Birthday Girl. ^.^
dylanrichardson's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
jombienerd's review against another edition
4.0
I LOVED THIS POETRY COLLECTION! I wanna sit down with Beasley and have a chat over a cup of coffee. I want to know about her poems and what inspired her to write them. The only thing that I found off was that the poems felt choppy as a whole as I went through the book. It wasn’t too much of a bother though. I’ve really been craving poetry for a while and this definitely satiated my appetite. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in getting into poetry.
Some of my favorite poems from this collection are:
The World War Speaks
Japanese Water Bomb
Exists
Love Poem for Wednesday (LOVED THIS ONE)
Vocation
Unit of Measure
Proposal
Some of my favorite poems from this collection are:
The World War Speaks
Japanese Water Bomb
Exists
Love Poem for Wednesday (LOVED THIS ONE)
Vocation
Unit of Measure
Proposal
chelsea_not_chels's review against another edition
3.0
More reviews available at my blog, Beauty and the Bookworm.
I'm not a huge poetry person, so when "A book of poetry" was included on a reading challenge list, I was not thrilled. Because I am very ambivalent, at best, towards poetry, I decided to do something I don't usually do for reading challenges and re-read a book I'd consumed in the past. I originally read I Was the Jukebox for a literature course at my university, and I hung onto it (unlike most of my textbooks) because there was one poem in it that really blew me a way. Also, at under 100 pages, it was a quick read for an evening--I don't have the patience to break up and savor poems though that is, apparently, how you are supposed to mindfully consume them.
This book is roughly divided into three parts, though I quite honestly am not sure what the divisions are supposed to signify. But there are a few running "themes" throughout the book, scattered across the parts. There a number of sestinas, which I distinctly remember Beasley describing as poetry acrobatics (she came to speak in my class) because they use very precise alterations of word order in the ends of lines to create an ongoing flow. There are a series of "_____ Speaks" poems, in which the peom is written from the perspective of the item or being in the title, such as Osiris, orchids, sand, the world war, and the minotaur. Another series is "Love Poem for _____" which includes things like oxidation and Wednesday. And then there's the "Another Failed Poem About _____" series, which features things like music, starlings, or the Greeks.
While I feel that there was probably something lurking in most of the poems that I didn't "get," I might just be looking into it too much and deciding that I'm missing something when there's really nothing there to miss. Despite that, though, there were a few poems that really stand out in this collection, even to someone who's generally anti-poetry like myself. The main one of these is called "Cast of Thousands." It's a poem about a war, and how it affects people, and how the pain and suffering of war has been commercialized for entertainment and used to sell things--gyros are specifically mentioned. There's an incredible set of lines here: "They burned my village a house at a time / unable to sort a body holding from a body held / and in minute ninety-six you can see me raise / my arms as if to keep the sky from falling." But the whole poem is written as if it's about a movie being made, which creates this great surreal duality that I really enjoyed and found striking.
Another good one was "Antiquity," which is about how the people of the future will look back at our time and study us. There are also a few poems that have good comedic elements, such as one about a platypus and "Another Failed Poem About the Greeks," which starts out seeming like it's going to be some sort of epic, and then actually transforms into the story of a very strange date with Heracles. And finally, the last poem in the book is called "Proposal" and ends with this line, which just struck me: "Promise you're worth my weight in burning."
It's an eclectic collection, with most of the poems being short--less than a page, for the most part. I think they vary in how powerful they are, greatly, but I think that it's a solid collection if for nothing more than "Cast of Thousands," because it's just such an important message and it's beautifully, achingly, powerfully done.
3 stars out of 5--it's a good collection, I guess, with some particularly poignant parts, but it's just for me overall.
I'm not a huge poetry person, so when "A book of poetry" was included on a reading challenge list, I was not thrilled. Because I am very ambivalent, at best, towards poetry, I decided to do something I don't usually do for reading challenges and re-read a book I'd consumed in the past. I originally read I Was the Jukebox for a literature course at my university, and I hung onto it (unlike most of my textbooks) because there was one poem in it that really blew me a way. Also, at under 100 pages, it was a quick read for an evening--I don't have the patience to break up and savor poems though that is, apparently, how you are supposed to mindfully consume them.
This book is roughly divided into three parts, though I quite honestly am not sure what the divisions are supposed to signify. But there are a few running "themes" throughout the book, scattered across the parts. There a number of sestinas, which I distinctly remember Beasley describing as poetry acrobatics (she came to speak in my class) because they use very precise alterations of word order in the ends of lines to create an ongoing flow. There are a series of "_____ Speaks" poems, in which the peom is written from the perspective of the item or being in the title, such as Osiris, orchids, sand, the world war, and the minotaur. Another series is "Love Poem for _____" which includes things like oxidation and Wednesday. And then there's the "Another Failed Poem About _____" series, which features things like music, starlings, or the Greeks.
While I feel that there was probably something lurking in most of the poems that I didn't "get," I might just be looking into it too much and deciding that I'm missing something when there's really nothing there to miss. Despite that, though, there were a few poems that really stand out in this collection, even to someone who's generally anti-poetry like myself. The main one of these is called "Cast of Thousands." It's a poem about a war, and how it affects people, and how the pain and suffering of war has been commercialized for entertainment and used to sell things--gyros are specifically mentioned. There's an incredible set of lines here: "They burned my village a house at a time / unable to sort a body holding from a body held / and in minute ninety-six you can see me raise / my arms as if to keep the sky from falling." But the whole poem is written as if it's about a movie being made, which creates this great surreal duality that I really enjoyed and found striking.
Another good one was "Antiquity," which is about how the people of the future will look back at our time and study us. There are also a few poems that have good comedic elements, such as one about a platypus and "Another Failed Poem About the Greeks," which starts out seeming like it's going to be some sort of epic, and then actually transforms into the story of a very strange date with Heracles. And finally, the last poem in the book is called "Proposal" and ends with this line, which just struck me: "Promise you're worth my weight in burning."
It's an eclectic collection, with most of the poems being short--less than a page, for the most part. I think they vary in how powerful they are, greatly, but I think that it's a solid collection if for nothing more than "Cast of Thousands," because it's just such an important message and it's beautifully, achingly, powerfully done.
3 stars out of 5--it's a good collection, I guess, with some particularly poignant parts, but it's just for me overall.
mlindner's review against another edition
4.0
http://www.vianegativa.us/2012/04/i-was-the-jukebox-by-sandra-beasley/
I enjoyed this although only one or two really grabbed me and I cannot say why I liked it. With that in mind, I won't say much until I get a chance to reread it someday.
I enjoyed this although only one or two really grabbed me and I cannot say why I liked it. With that in mind, I won't say much until I get a chance to reread it someday.
thirstkirst's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. This is only the second collection of poetry I have read, and I gotta say I absolutely loved it. This is great. Recommend it to anyone that likes poetry that is almost dream-like, yet profound. If I didn't have to turn this back in to the library, there would be highlighted lines all throughout this book. Only wish I didn't have to write a paper on it for school right now.
thirstkirst's review
5.0
Wow. This is only the second collection of poetry I have read, and I gotta say I absolutely loved it. This is great. Recommend it to anyone that likes poetry that is almost dream-like, yet profound. If I didn't have to turn this back in to the library, there would be highlighted lines all throughout this book. Only wish I didn't have to write a paper on it for school right now.
debshelf's review
3.0
I appreciated moments in these poems; there was usually a phrase or section of each poem that caught my eye, but only one or two poems that I liked in their entirety.
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