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The Pedestrians (2014)

by Rachel Zucker(Favorite Author)

4.37 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1933517891 (ISBN13: 9781933517896)

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

Wave Books

review 1: Part 1 ("Fables") is among my favorite runs of poems read in the past year. They're longer, prosaic, with an airy disjointedness. They feel free, yet narrative. "Ocean" and "The Other City" are standouts.Part 2 ("The Pedestrians") is less successful, divided among Lydia Davis-style throwaways (that lack Davis's cumulative effect), prose poems and the occasional post-avant ramble, which Zucker doesn't have a great handle on, aside from getting crazy with the tab key. Worst cases are a weirdly juvenile post-Beats affect (see "I'm nobody you are too").3.5 stars, like rating a messy album for its best singles.
review 2: To paraphrase “Dr. Stangelove”: when I learned to stop worrying and love poetry there was no stopping me. I didn’t have to understand it, jus... moret experience it. The words on the page often crystalized, not literally but literarily, and fell into a place of integrity that was beyond comprehension and yet satisfying. Often that satisfaction is not on an intellectual level, but something less pragmatic and more impractical. I know, I know. I sound like one of those rate-a-record teenagers on “American Bandstand,” but there’s a lot of connection between poetry and rock and roll. What drew me to THE PEDESTRIANS by Rachel Zucker was that it had a beat that I could dance to. I, too, am a parent of three children, and that was enough of an entry point. After that it all washed over me in perfectly distilled fables and dreams and poems, each saying just enough, honestly and originally. The title poem, the longest in the book, may be the greatest poem I read today. Maybe even tomorrow. The highest recommendation? I want to share this book with the woman I love. Isn’t that what poetry’s all about? less

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