TOP DOG: KEVIN STEIN :: ChicagoPoetry.com :: The Center of Chicago's Cyberspace Poetry

Poetry News

Cool Stuff

Chicago Poetry Scene Top 130

eX-treme 100

Reviews of local poets books and performances

Submit your work for possible publication

A Directory of movies with poetry in them

bA collection of links to full length films

· A Cram On WBEZ
· After Hours Press
· Another Chicago Magazine
· Anti-War Poetry
· Apollo Project
· Apparatus Magazine
· Around The Coyote
· AquaMoon
· Audio Party
· Barbara's Bookstore
· Beach Poets
· Blue Line Studio
· Bob Boone's Teacher's Hangout
· Book Cellar
· Book Slut
· Book Stall
· Brown Rice
· Caffeine Theatre
· Center on Halsted
· Chaotic Radio
· Chicago Amplified
· Chicago Calling
· Chicago Literary Club
· Chicago Poetry Club
· Chicago Poetry Examiner
· Chicago Poetry Project
· Chicago Poetry Neutral Zone
· Chicago Public Library
· Chicago Reader Lit
· Chicago Reader Open Mics
· Chicago Readers Blog
· Chicago Shakes
· Chicago Slam Works
· Chicago Writes
· Collage Productions
· College of Complexes
· Columbia College
· Columbia College Events
· Columbia Poetry Review
· Cracked Slab Books
· CRWROPPS
· Danny's
· Discrete Series
· Dollar Store
· Drinking and Writing
· EarCandy
· Ebony Energy
· 826 Chicago
· Encyclopedia Show
· e-poets.net
· Featherproof
· Gallery 37
· GB Book Club
· Girl Speak
· Golden Rule Jones
· Green Mill
· Guild Complex
· Gwendolyn Brooks Center
· Homolatte
· Illinois Arts Council
· Illinois Poet Laureate
· Illinois Poets Society
· In One Ear at Heartland Cafe
· KuumbaLynx
· La Bloga
· Lake Forest College
· Lethal Poetry
· Letter eX
· Literago
· Louder Than A Bomb
· Loyola
· LVNG
· Mango Tribe
· March/Abrazo
· Mental Graffiti
· Milk Magazine
· Myopic Books
· Neighborhood Writing Alliance
· Newberry Library
· New City Words Section
· Northwestern
· Northwestern Press
· NNWAC
· Parlor Reading Series
· The Poetry Center of Chicago
· Poetry Foundation
· Poetry Magazine
· PoetryPoetry
· Poets and Patrons
· Powells
· Printers Ball
· Printers Row Book Fair
· Puddin'head Press
· Publish Chicago
· Quickies!
· Quimby's
· Ragdale
· Rambunctious Review
· Reading Under The Influence
· Rec Room
· Red Rover
· Rhino
· 2nd Story
· Series A
· Seven Corners
· Silver Tongue
· Small Garlic Press
· StarWallpaper
· Sunday Salon
· Sun Times Books
· Swan Isle Press
· Switchback Books
· Tallgrass Writers / Outrider Press
· The2ndHand
· Third World Press
· Tianguis Bookstore
· TimeOut Blog
· TimeOut Books
· TriQuarterly
· Tuesday Funk
· Twilight Tales
· U of C Poetics
· U of C Press
· U of I Press
· Underground Library
· Unscene Chicago
· Virtual Artists Collective
· Vocalo.org
· Waiting 4 The Bus
· Weeds
· Woman Made Gallery
· Women and Children First
· Young Chicago Authors

Feb 08, 2010 - 11:49 PM

ChicagoPoetry.com

· Taalam Acey
· Bill Allegrezza
· Lisa Alvarado
· Diane Anjoue
· Antler
· Robert Archambeau
· AvantRetro
· Dave Awl
· Beatriz Badikian
· Tara Betts
· John Biederman
· Robert Bly
· David Breeden
· Tim Brown
· Michael H. Brownstein
· Michael Burke
· Darren Callahan
· Emily Calvo
· Vito Carli
· Mars Caulton
· Daniel Cleary
· Kristiana Colon
· Kevin Coval
· Anna Castillo
· Jim Coppoc
· Larry O. Dean
· Thax Douglas
· Annabelle Echo
· Robert Klein Engler
· Anida Esguerra
· Ryan Ewart
· Richard Fammeree
· Maria Fischinger
· Jason Fisk
· Mary Fons
· Cynthia Gallaher
· Regie Gibson
· Girl Show
· Laurel Graham
· Lee Groban
· Doctor Groove
· Amy Guth
· M. Miriam Herrera
· Nissa Holtkamp
· Brandi Homan
· Paul Hoover
· Robert Karimi
· Oba William King
· Lee Kitzis
· David Kodeski
· Kathy Kubik
· C. J. Laity
· Jim Lambert
· Anna Leahy
· Francesco Levato
· Lauren Levato
· Toni Asante Lightfoot
· Josephine Lipuma
· Lyn Lifshin
· Nicole Macaluso
· William Marr
· Marc McCune
· Sharon Mesmer
· Jonathan Messinger
· Moon
· Wilda Morris
· Simone Muench
· David Novak
· Achy Obejas
· Daniela Olszewska
· Daniel X. O'Neil
· Pam Osbey
· Johanny Vazquez Paz
· Marilyn Peretti
· Andrew Rafalski
· Redstorm
· Samira E. Robinson
· Luis Rodriguez
· Kathleen Rooney
· Emily Rose
· Stephany Rose
· Charlie Rossiter
· Carl Sandburg
· Larry Sawyer
· Cathleen Schandelmeier
· Steven Schroeder
· Adam Selzer
· Bronmin Shumway
· Homer Smith
· Mark K. Smith
· Kerri Sonnenberg
· Dan Stafford
· Jason Sturner
· Dan Sully
· Robbie Q. Telfer
· David Trinidad
· Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai
· Billy Tuggle
· Eddie Two-Rivers
· Lara Unnerstall
· Judith Valente
· Danette T.M. Velez
· Lina ramona Vitkauskas
· S. L. Wisenberg
· Larry Winfield
· Jacqui Wolk
· Ruan Wright
· Tim Yu
· Claire Zulkey

TOP DOG: KEVIN STEIN
Posted by : cj on Friday, October 26, 2007 - 01:05 PM

.
American Ghost Roses
by Kevin Stein, Poet Laureate of Illinois
University of Illinois Press
Reviewed by C. J. Laity

Kevin Stein's American Ghost Roses is a down to earth tour de force. As I bathed in the highly personal, sometimes dark, often witty, always entertaining flow of verse in this book, I got the idea that it could have been written by someone I hung out with years ago, when I was growing up in Illinois, because it is filled with white boy nostalgia:

Dig how Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" electrifies
as improbably as Khrushchev's shoe thumping
the podium, the heel threatening to "bury" us.

(from "In the Nuclear Age")

The effectiveness of Stein's voice is a little scary. I felt as if he was standing right beside me, pointing things out, as I read his poetry. Then he got into my airplane of a brain and took control of the cockpit, gracefully guiding me through vivid environments. Stein's poetic voice is commanding but natural; it is an authority that produces stark images without resorting to laborious description, such as in the example of this vantage point:

"Face it, you at the wrong place at the wrong
time, brother." He said brother. Through cracked lens,
we might've been—his face pieced together
as Picasso knew before the first war,

(from "An American Tale of Sex and Death")

Stein's poems often hit a little too close to home, when he deals with serious subject matter such as domestic violence or suicide. In these poems he creates an unnerving tension that leads up to startling revelations that made me flinch. But Stein always remains optimistic and he evens the tone of this book out with an abundance of lighter poems, throwing in a dash of pop culture and seasoning his work with brand names (Drano, Saran-wrap, Levi-Strauss) to make it more personal and to prove that he lives on the same planet that we live on.

What pleasure is there for you,
rusted Sears brand full of crushed Pabst cans?

(from "To Wheelbarrows")

It's apparent that Kevin Stein had a lot of fun writing this book. It's as if he wanted to share some inside jokes with anyone wise enough to recognize them, when he threw in a performance poem when I least expected it, or when he made light of his own writing process, or when a found poem disassembled into stream of consciousness, or when he said something profound about a cantaloupe. He whimsically plays with the sounds of words, creating the illusion that his precision is effortless; take for example these quotes from various poems: "the deaf man whumps the stumps of his palms" or "Say the shocked doc's / plastic shunt salvages your burnt gullet" or "Let's mouth the hour's round bower of vowels" or how about:

Because nothing's subtle about October, I don't want
     to die—
candles aflame, that little tent, flowers and shovels slick
     with rain—
though surely this day bears seduction inevitable as the lover's
     champagne glance,
raspberry beret tossed atop the bedpost we tumbled across
     and in,

(from "Love Poem with Knife and last Cut Zinnia")

Everyone sees the world in their own unique way, but few people have the talent to make me see the world the way they see it, like Stein does when he shows me the pop music group The Monkees:

The humor was slapstick, their musical interludes improbable
     as those Bing and Bob concocted to appease the WWII
homefront, but this time it's Vietnam, a moral quandary,
     so the guys' striped bellbottoms and polka-dotted poets' shirts
implied ambivalence toward the military industrial complex

(from "Upon Blowing Our Chance to Meet the Poet Laureate, Who's Probably a Nice Guy")

Each poem in this book contains an abundance of artistic wealth that is hard to consume with one read, even though the work is usually written in a crisp narrative style. On the first read I enjoyed the voice of the poem; on the second read I enjoyed the imagery; and on a careful third read the story of the poem unfolded. American Ghost Roses also inspired me to do some research. For example, after reading the poem "To Bob Marley's Toe" I anxiously searched the internet and discovered that Bob Marley did indeed die of toe cancer.

American Ghost Roses took me places. Often launching from the link of a commonplace object, such as a furnace, a penny or a banana, Stein led me on a journey of swift turns while he juggled the complex with the universal and compared the grim realities of life to the beauty of art. Notice here how he tells three stories in one single sentence:

"Sweet Mother of God," the curse wings fire
from a man whose hand's been slammed
in his truck door, his language blue and wounded—
as was the Virgin herself, blue not only in sadness
but also in dress, her robes a color not unlike these
indigo buntings we're returning to the flood plain
farmed thirty years by a salt magnate now gone,
his dirty levy, too ...

(from "Reintroductions")

Kevin Stein creates equilibrium between language and imagery and through his words we discover the largeness of small things. I give American Ghost Roses two big quills up.

--CJ Laity

To order a copy of American Ghost Roses, Click here.

Go back to the other Top Dogs.

**We hope you found the information on this page useful. ChicagoPoetry.com needs your help. We are holding a fundraising drive in order to stay online. There are two ways that you can help: Click here to offer a financial gift or click here to order the new book by ChicagoPoetry.com Press.

Note: Here is a review of Kevin Stein's new book, American Ghost Roses.



	Upcoming Events · Poetry Calendar · Enter Our Contest



	Open Mic Guide



	Join List Click here to receive frequent email blasts.



	Right Now . . . There are 28 unregistered users and 1 registered user on-line. You can log-in or register for a user account here.



	Is This Site Useful?



	Thanks For The Support Please support my independent publishing by adding a link to me on your website. I am not funded by any corporation, foundation, government agency or university, and that is why I have the power to tell it like it really is. My poetry news and gossip are updated every day, so bookmark me and check back often. You can always contact me at Publisher@ ChicagoPoetry.com.



	Poetry World Radio CLICK HERE to listen to Poetry World Radio If you need a player, click.



	eX-ceptional 150 · Acme Artworks · Alarm · American Perspectives · Answer Tag Home Press · Area Chicago · Avant Chicago · Bailliwik · Beard of Bees · Black Arts · Blossom Bones · Bohemian Pupil · Borders Open Door Poetry · Born Magazine · Bucktown Arts Fest · Chance Operations · Chicago Artists Coalition · Chicago Cultural Center · Chicago Dramatists · Chicago Innerview · Chicagoist · Chicago Magazine · ChicagoPoets.net · Chicago Quarterly · Chicago Review · Chicago6Corners · Chi Town Daily News · CHIRP · Christian Poets Society · cinematheque · CLTV · Common Review · Conscious Choice · Contra Tiempo · Conundrum · Court Green · Crab Orchard · Cross Roads · Curious Theatre · Elastic Arts · EM Press · Empty Bottle · F News Magazine · Fence · Fifth Wednesday · Free Lunch · Free Street · Front 40 · Gapers Block · Gargoyle · Haymarket · Heartland Cafe · Hemmingway Foundation · Highland Park Poetry · Hotel Amerika · Hour Glass · Hull House · Humanities Fest · Hyde Park Art · Improv Olympics · Intersections · In These Times · JAB · Kalamu · Karamu · Kedzie Press / The Green Parent · Lake Claremont · Lawyers For Arts · Lisle Library · Literary Pizazz Radio · Lit Line · Links Hall · Looptopia · Love Chicago · Lumpen · Machine · Make Magazine · Manual of Style · Mayapple Press · Mayor's Office of Events · MetroMix · Mexican Fine Arts · MCA · Midland Authors · Midwest Literary Fest · Midwest Zines · Milk Weed · Millions · Moria · Mule · Muse Letter · Naperville Writers · National Writers Union · Nelson Algren Committee · Neofuturists · Nextbook · Ninth Letter · Old Town Folk School · Open Book · Osbey Books · O Sweet Flowery Roses · Other Voices · Otium · Palatine Slam · Paper and Carriage · Paper Mustache · Perpetual Motion · Plainfield Poetry · PM Poetry · Poem Present · Poetry Cache · Poetry Daily · Poets and Writers · Poets Kitchen · Polvo · Polyphony · Pudding House · Punk Planet · Reconstruction Room · Redmoon · Roctober · Rose Metal · Room 315 · Rubba Ducky · Sawbuck · Scars Publishing · Screwball · Second Run · Seminary Co-op · Seventen Bishop · Shark Forum · Shelter · Shortpants · Skeleton News · Small Happy · Stop Smiling · SOBS · Sourcebooks · Spareroom · Spondee · Stone Jones · Story Studio · Story Quarterly · Street Level · Teatro Luna · This Is Grand · Ticket2Write · Time Out · Uncommon Ground · Unlikely Stories · UR Chicago · Venus · Wordsfest · Writers Workspace · WBEZ · WFMT · WLUW · WNUR · WQNA · You Are Beautiful



	The Outside World · African Poet · Air America · Albany Poets · Arizona Center · Arkansas Press · Art Villa · Asian American Poetry · Austin Poetry · Bandana Republic · Beat Page · Bella Online · Better World · Black Lawrence · Black Ocean · Black Sparrow · Boston Zine Fair · Born · Bowery Poetry · Brick City · Bronx River Press · Bukowski · Cave Canem · Center for Indy Pub. · City Lights · CJAS · CLMP Directory · Coach House Books · Curbstone · Detroit PicNap Poetry · Electronic Poetry · Exquisite Corpse · Favorite Poem Project · Finishing Line Press · Foothills Press · Free Speech · Get Underground · Giovanni's Room · Gival Press · Graffiti Verite · GreatAmericanShow · Guerilla Poetics · Hiss · House Press · Indie Feed · Insomniacathon · Jazz Poetry Cafe · Kenning Editions · Lannan · Library of Congress · Lit Kicks · Madison Poetry · Many Books (free e-books) · MiPOesias · National Association of Poetry Therapy · National Book Foundation · National Endowment for the Arts · Northography · Outsider Ink · Paris Review · Poesia Salvaje · Poetas del Mundo · Poetry Bus · Poetry Factory · Poetry Glossary · Poetry Project · PoetrySlam, Inc. · PoetrySlam.net · Poetry Society · Poetry Superhighway · Poetry Vlog · Poets Against War · Poets House · Poets In Rags · Poets.org · Poets Path · Poetz · Purple Sky · Quay · Resource Page · Rhyme Zone · San Francisco Center · Seattle Poetry · Society of Professional Journalists · Sun-Optikos · Teachers and Writers · Tia Chucha · UNESCO · UniVerse of Poetry · Universes · Village Voice · Web Del Sol · Welfare Poets · Winning Writers · Woodland Pattern · Word Salad · Word Wrestling Fed