A Commonplace Book of Pentastichs: Poetry

by Hayden Carruth and James Laughlin

A compilation of 249 poems composed in a form of James Laughlin's devising first introduced in The Secret Room. A pentastich refers to a poem of five lines, without regard to metrics. This selection is of short-line compositions in natural voice cadence.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811213862
• ISBN13: 9780811213868
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 91 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Pentastichs galore OR Reader's notes in five line form

A commonplace book is a sort of scholar's scrapbook in which to keep quotations etc. that you find useful. As a commonplace book this volume gives wonderful insight into Laughlin's reading/influence - South Asian holy texts, Japanese novels, classical Latin and Greek texts ... a fascinating and varied collection. These snapshots (as well as original entries) are in the form of pentastichs - a form Laughlin introduced in his The Secret Room: Poems This is a five line form, short lines, natural voice cadence. One has to wonder if extracting 5 lines from a pre-existing poem legitimately puts it in a new form. I suppose that since Laughlin created the rules ... More interesting to me in terms of form are the poems extracted from prose - a variety of "found poems". Here Lauglin's choice of line breaks and material gives a better sense of how Laughlin envisioned the form. Finally, the original poems show Laughlin, the poet, at work. Here we find several macronic verse (two languages are used), some very witty observations and some sage advice. Delightful as the book is, recognising how much insight it gives into Laughlin's influences, I still have to wonder. If someone else extracted 5 line segments from others' works and used them as the mainstay of a book of poetry, could they get it published?

A remarkable work by a remarkable man who is an old friend.

I am no reviewer but thank you for asking. My name is Herb Slojewski. I've known Mr. Laughlin's work all my life. This is one of his finest books. Mr. L. was an admirer and supporter of Denise Levertov, who died just a short while ago. Don't miss this one, please. Thanks, Mr. Laughlin! Thank you very much. Herb. Thursday night. Eagle Rock, California 9.9.99--9:09 PM