She who dies with the most books, wins.
And with 620 books accumulated by age 25, I think I'm well on my way, yes? Alas, ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
jedibuttercup has been pushed to seventh on my "Members with your books" list. (This would be due to my rapid accumulation of theological works, which then makes my SF/F books a smaller part of my collection.)
Anyway, I'm also on LibraryThing's Early Reviewers list, where you can request certain books before they come out and if you're lucky you'll get a copy. If you write a review of it, your odds of getting more Early Reviewer books in the future are greatly increased. This month I snagged my first Early Reviewer book:
Bikeman, by Thomas Flynn, is an epic poem about 9/11. Now, before you say "Epic poem? sounds boring" please stop and listen for a minute. This is not your grandmother's epic poem. It's a first-person monologue of Flynn's experiences at Ground Zero. It's relatively short (only 73 pages) and quite readable. It's the kind of thing you can devour in an hour.
We did not live through it,
we just did not die.
So much poetry of the 20th Century is either overly-academic and esoteric almost to the point of incomprehensibility, or saccharine drivel. Bikeman by Thomas F. Flynn is neither. The imagery is poetic and poignant while still being accessible. There are some literary references I would not expect the average American to get, but not many of them.
Although Bikeman records the planes hitting the building and people jumping and such, the majority of it is Flynn's experience after the first tower has collapsed, moving through a grim, dust-smothered world, trying to escape the clouds of destruction. This is what sets the tone for the whole poem, so it's a much different focus than for those of us who watched it on television who were wondering if there were plains heading for the capitol and seeing the footage of the planes hitting the towers over and over again. Bikeman does not stir the emotions to such epic heights as the events of that day, but it does capture the disbelief and surreality. It is a quieter kind of passion, restrained, not quite able to believe what is happening. I think it suits the subject well; I don't see how an attempt to fully capture the horror could come off as anything but overwrought.
I can't judge the poem's artistic merit; It's been too long since my college poetry classes, and I never much cared for epics or modern poetry, so I don't have much to compare it to literarily. But I think it's a shame that poetry today requires college classes to teach you how to read and appreciate it. What I liked most about Bikeman is that I could read it and enjoy it without needing to fall back on old half-remembered lit coursework.
jedibuttercup has been pushed to seventh on my "Members with your books" list. (This would be due to my rapid accumulation of theological works, which then makes my SF/F books a smaller part of my collection.)Anyway, I'm also on LibraryThing's Early Reviewers list, where you can request certain books before they come out and if you're lucky you'll get a copy. If you write a review of it, your odds of getting more Early Reviewer books in the future are greatly increased. This month I snagged my first Early Reviewer book:
Bikeman, by Thomas Flynn, is an epic poem about 9/11. Now, before you say "Epic poem? sounds boring" please stop and listen for a minute. This is not your grandmother's epic poem. It's a first-person monologue of Flynn's experiences at Ground Zero. It's relatively short (only 73 pages) and quite readable. It's the kind of thing you can devour in an hour.
We did not live through it,
we just did not die.
So much poetry of the 20th Century is either overly-academic and esoteric almost to the point of incomprehensibility, or saccharine drivel. Bikeman by Thomas F. Flynn is neither. The imagery is poetic and poignant while still being accessible. There are some literary references I would not expect the average American to get, but not many of them.
Although Bikeman records the planes hitting the building and people jumping and such, the majority of it is Flynn's experience after the first tower has collapsed, moving through a grim, dust-smothered world, trying to escape the clouds of destruction. This is what sets the tone for the whole poem, so it's a much different focus than for those of us who watched it on television who were wondering if there were plains heading for the capitol and seeing the footage of the planes hitting the towers over and over again. Bikeman does not stir the emotions to such epic heights as the events of that day, but it does capture the disbelief and surreality. It is a quieter kind of passion, restrained, not quite able to believe what is happening. I think it suits the subject well; I don't see how an attempt to fully capture the horror could come off as anything but overwrought.
I can't judge the poem's artistic merit; It's been too long since my college poetry classes, and I never much cared for epics or modern poetry, so I don't have much to compare it to literarily. But I think it's a shame that poetry today requires college classes to teach you how to read and appreciate it. What I liked most about Bikeman is that I could read it and enjoy it without needing to fall back on old half-remembered lit coursework.
