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annebonnie's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
3.5
heartwurm's review against another edition
3.0
3.5! I found this collection in a second hand bookstore and read it on a flight back to Vancouver. I wanted to give this 4 stars, but I feel I’d be giving it a generous score based on my love for The Doors music.
As a poetry collection it’s good, but not great. It makes sense these were forgotten writings that Morrison didn’t publish himself but were brought to light by friends who have the collections of his notebooks. Some of the writing is brilliant and poignant, some of it is confusing and hard to understand. The parts I liked the most were when I got snippets of lyrics, song titles, or other references to Morrisons musical career.
The poetry itself is interesting enough. I’m more familiar with poets who have tight control of rhythm, meter, and rhyme scheme. Poets such as Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath, and Mary Oliver. These poems are completely different, yet still don’t hit closer to the beat poetry of someone like Bukowski. This divergence from the poets I’ve read makes the collection refreshing. Morrison is either drawing his inspiration from a poet I haven’t yet read, or making his own rules up entirely.
To me, this is a collection to be read by an avid fan of The Doors or Jim Morrison. It helps paint a picture of his more private writings and thoughts. Otherwise read the poetry collection he published himself while alive.
As a poetry collection it’s good, but not great. It makes sense these were forgotten writings that Morrison didn’t publish himself but were brought to light by friends who have the collections of his notebooks. Some of the writing is brilliant and poignant, some of it is confusing and hard to understand. The parts I liked the most were when I got snippets of lyrics, song titles, or other references to Morrisons musical career.
The poetry itself is interesting enough. I’m more familiar with poets who have tight control of rhythm, meter, and rhyme scheme. Poets such as Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath, and Mary Oliver. These poems are completely different, yet still don’t hit closer to the beat poetry of someone like Bukowski. This divergence from the poets I’ve read makes the collection refreshing. Morrison is either drawing his inspiration from a poet I haven’t yet read, or making his own rules up entirely.
To me, this is a collection to be read by an avid fan of The Doors or Jim Morrison. It helps paint a picture of his more private writings and thoughts. Otherwise read the poetry collection he published himself while alive.
dee9401's review against another edition
5.0
I bought this volume of Jim Morrison’s poetry at Starrlight Books, a great shop in Flagstaff, Arizona. I’ve been fascinated with Morrison since I first started listened to the Doors back in high school in the 80s. This is a wonderful collection that goes, in my opinion, far beyond his writings with that band. I’m so glad to have picked it up and will place it among my other treasured books.
I read this volume straight through it on the plane ride home a few days later. A few of my recent reading selections haven’t grabbed my interest. I’ve even resorted to skimming through parts. That wasn’t the case with this work. I read every word of each poem, sometimes flipping back a few pages to reread one that was echoing in the back of my mind. I scribbled a quick note saying that he wasn’t like most modern poets I’ve read. Morrison reminded me more of 18th and 19th century poets. Perhaps that’s because of what I mostly read nowadays, but I think it’s also since he drew a lot of inspiration from poets of that era, such as Blake and Rimbaud.
While everything resonated with me, there were a few lines that stood out. Echoing the second generation of Romantics (e.g. Shelley and Keats), Morrison writes: “Shrill demented sparrows bark / The sun into being. They rule / dawn’s Kingdom” (p. 35). In a poignant commentary on social relationships, he says
I read this volume straight through it on the plane ride home a few days later. A few of my recent reading selections haven’t grabbed my interest. I’ve even resorted to skimming through parts. That wasn’t the case with this work. I read every word of each poem, sometimes flipping back a few pages to reread one that was echoing in the back of my mind. I scribbled a quick note saying that he wasn’t like most modern poets I’ve read. Morrison reminded me more of 18th and 19th century poets. Perhaps that’s because of what I mostly read nowadays, but I think it’s also since he drew a lot of inspiration from poets of that era, such as Blake and Rimbaud.
While everything resonated with me, there were a few lines that stood out. Echoing the second generation of Romantics (e.g. Shelley and Keats), Morrison writes: “Shrill demented sparrows bark / The sun into being. They rule / dawn’s Kingdom” (p. 35). In a poignant commentary on social relationships, he says
Actors must make us thinkReminding me of my own youth, when we didn’t have 24-hour radio or online streaming: “When radio dark night existed / & assumed control, & we rocked in its web / consumed by static, & stroked with fear / we were drawn down long from / a deep sleep” (p. 135). Finally, from his poem “As I Look Back” (p. 201):
they’re real
Our friends must not
make us think we’re acting
(p. 117)
As I look back
over my life
I am struck by post
cards
Ruined Snap shots
faded posters
Of a time, I can’t recall
redroofcolleen's review against another edition
3.0
Considering how very much I admire his song lyrics, the poems were a bit of a disappointment.
anarcisos's review against another edition
4.0
"(...) No one can remember an entire novel. No one can describe a film, a piece of sculpture, a painting, but so long as there are human beings, songs and poetry can continue. If my poetry aims to achieve anything, it's to deliver people from the limited ways in which they see and feel."