The Radiance of Pigs: Poems

by Stan Rice

Book Overview

Now in paperback, Stan Rice's most recent collection brims with dynamic, unpredictable poems that delve into the darker reaches of humor and experience.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375704345
• ISBN13: 9780375704345
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Somewhat uneven, surprisingly good...

...because, indeed, as Anne Rices husband you'd think that the publication of this book was little more than a publishers favor to the moneymaking Queen of the Vampire Thriller. And, perhaps, to some extent it was--but that doesnt change the fact that this book also *deserved* to be published. Fact is, there are plenty of equally talented poets out there who dont happen to be married to someone who can call in a favor or have a personal chat with the poetry editor at Knopf...but thats the breaks. As I well know, the difference between being published and being unknown is more often than not a matter of being in the right place at the right time, of who you know, and of who knows you, than it is a matter of talent. Stan Rice married well--but he did it before Anne Rice became ANNE RICE. He was double-lucky in that regard. He met the woman he loved and then she became world-famous. You cant blame him for that. That all said: *The Radiance of Pigs* is a book of poems well-worth reading. Stark, surreal, sometimes shocking, Rice's work has an electric intensity that is rare among poets routinely published today. You wont find the typical quiet musings and sentimental reminiscences about Dads fishing pole or Aunt Bettys Alzheimers disease, tedious philosophical narratives about infidelity, divorce, and traffic jams that seem to be the staple of contemporary American poetry. Rice's poems have the unmistakeable spiritual immediacey of a man who was wrestling with demons and walking beside angels--and for whom everything was, indeed, imbued with a radiance, even the pigs. Someone, I think it might have been Vallejo, said that a poem should make one's senses come alive as if one were sitting in a dark room with a snake in the corner. Thats what the poems in this collection do. And, as a poet, you cant do better than that. Btw...you should check out Stan Rice's website. He was a painter as well as a writer and has produced some truly striking visual work. Its a shame that he is no longer on our side of the earths crust.

meanings are felt. . .

Stan Rice was a highly successful, award winning PUBLISHED Poet years before his wife even wrote her first book. It is interesting to see such envious hostility in some reviews that clearly have nothing to do with the artist; stan rice.Poetry is music, and there is music for the infinite tastes and desires of all people. Stan's work is powerful, strickingly honest, with often dreamlike qualities questioning all things taken for granted. He has always remained genuine and strong in his delivery and insites. And each of his books becomes more and more of its own world, you marval nervously as you dare to enter!thanks.

Needed another star

This book is so amazing and so full of meaning and understanding. I am so in love with everything written in this book of poetry. Stan Rice is a phenom in that his brillance and feeling bleed through the words he had written. If you love poetry as I do, then this book is a must have.