Tell Me

by Kim Addonizio

Book Overview

Poems of loneliness and late nights, liquor and loss. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1880238918
• ISBN13: 9781880238912
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: BOA Editions
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Poems worthy of multiple visits

Some poets write poems that are momentarily enjoyed, then forgotten. Kim Addonizio writes poems that have stickability. Tell Me illustrates this, with poems like "The Divorcee and Gin." The opening line, "I love the frosted pints you come in," segues into a meditation on gin that is so full of specifics you can almost smell the alcohol. There is an inherent sensuality at work, with lines like "...God, I love/what you do to me at night when we're alone" and this quality brings a physical edge to the reader. That by the final lines we realize it's a love poem, is a testament to the skill of the poet. It comes as no surprise that her work is praised by so many other poets, including Billy Collins and Carolyn Kizer.Addonizio is a consummate craftsman, and in exploring her work, I've come to realize that every comma, line break, and nuance is carefully considered and expertly placed. She's a poet I recommend frequently to novices and seasoned readers as well. She's a poet that I believe will be remembered. This book offers sonnets, free verse, and prose poems that are narrative confessional, but they don't just belong to the poet. They're our poems as well.

Awesome

I read this book in my advanced creative writing class at Roger Williams University. We all enjoyed the book so much. Kim came to my school and gave informal talks and a reading. She was great. I love her voice in this book. She is straight forward and honest. She puts a great spin on poetry. Her other books are great too! Read them!

Kim Addonizio, Poetry Goddess

If I could meet one poet in the world, it would be this poet. I am in love with the way she writes. She is so artful yet edgy! I don't know how she does it, but I bow down before her. It kills me to have to wait so long for her next book!

A beautiful book

Evocative and beautiful, the poems in Tell Me linger long after they're finished. While most are dark and intensely personal, they defy the conceit of so many other poets. Instead, Addonizio is honest, even playful with the dark subjects she writes on.

Form and Narrative Hit the Streets

This book is a marvelous tonic for those who denigrate the contemporary use of traditional form and storytelling in poems. Old fashioned? Out of date? Read this book and Wake Up! Smart, sassy, funny, sexy, tender and bold, these poems give us the news of a wild, humane world that I, for one, am delighted to wake up living in. In a world of so many poet-phonies, Addonizio is grounded. Her poems are the real deal.