Product Description
Kenneth Koch has been called “one of our greatest poets” by John Ashbery, and “a national treasure” in the 2000 National Book Award Finalist Citation.

Now, for the first time, all of the poems in his ten collections–from Sun Out, poems of the 1950s, to Thank You, published in 1962, to A Possible World, published in 2002, the year of the poet’s death–are gathered in one volume.

Celebrating the pleasures of friendship, art, and love, the poetry of Kenneth Koch has been dazzling readers for fifty years. Charter member–along with Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, and James Schuyler–of the New York School of poets, avant-garde playwright and fiction writer, pioneer teacher of writing to children, Koch gave us some of the most exciting and aesthetically daring poems of his generation.

These poems take sensuous delight in the life of the mind and the heart, often at the same time: “O what a physical effect it has on me / To dive forever into the light blue sea / Of your acquaintance!” (“In Love with You”).

Here is Koch’s early work: love poems like “The Circus” and “To Marina” and such well-remembered comic masterpieces as “Fresh Air,” “Some General Instructions,” and “The Boiling Water” (“A serious moment for the water is when it boils”). And here are the brilliant later poems–“One Train May Hide Another,” the deliciously autobiographical address in New Addresses, and the stately elegy “Bel Canto”–poems that, beneath a surface of lightness and wit, speak with passion, depth, and seriousness to all the most important moments in one’s existence.

Charles Simic wrote in The New York Review of Books that, for Koch, poetry “has to be constantly saved from itself. The idea is to do something with language that has never been done before.” In the ten exuberant, hilarious, and heartbreaking books of poems collected here, Kenneth Koch does exactly that.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

I feel like I have a treasure.
Although the book was somewhat worn, it holds together well - physically as a book, metaphorically as a collection of thoughtful and insightful words.

A Powerhouse
It's hard to believe there has only been one other review of this book, which has been out for months now.Granted it is a collection of works that (may) have already been published.And it is awfully big, especially in an already overcrowded apartment.But still, this is a work of great magnitude and an extraordinary collection by this extraordinary poet.Some of his poems are so immediate, I feel I can hear his voice as he is spontaneously creating them.And yet, only someone with great skill and insight can make poetry seem so effortless and free wheeling.If I were king, and I am still hoping, I would decree a copy of this collection in every house in the realm.That's how good it is.

Hi!May I introduce Kenneth Koch?
Something inside me resists calling Kenneth Koch my favorite poet.His poems are too conversational, too easy-going, too entertaining to be so important.Except the one that made me break out in laughter while I was reading it on a treadmill at Bally's.And the one that made me cry (on that same treadmill, damn it!)And the one that scared me--really scared me--because simply, lightly, even jokingly, it presented a truth I absolutely did not want to hear. . .Now that I think of it, I realize that without any special effort on my part, I formed the kind of relationship with Koch that folks back in the old country had with Yevtushenko, Bloch or Pushkin.(Without any effort on my part, I say--all the effort was Koch's.)Koch is dead now, of course.But open the pages of this book, and he'll become a part of your life as well--as a friend, a teacher, a soulmate. ... Read more

Product Description
In paperback for the first time: Kenneth Koch’s six masterly, groundbreaking longer poems, which contain some of the poet’s most original work, full of exclamation and exaggeration but graced as well with dry wit and sophistication. Together they serve as the companion volume to the highly praised Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

from RCF Vol. XXVIII, #1
Called the "headmaster and ringmaster" of the New York School by his friend John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch's On the Edge: Collected Long Poems follows on the heals of the 2005 release of The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch and The Collected Fiction of Kenneth Koch, which along with a few volumes of plays, some anthologies, and several successful books on the teaching of poetry, rounds out the oeuvre of this important, irreverent, innovative, madcap genius of a poet. Although widely read and appreciated, Koch never quite achieved the critical acclaim and immense popularity of his closest New York School compadres, a conundrum well illustrated by the work in this volume; not because it is lacking anything, but rather because its excesses--its exuberant embrace of "[t]he excitement/ [a]nd the illusion of living at the beginning of thought"--are wholly outside of the waxing and waning modes of popular verse in both conservative and experimental circles. The first of the six poems reprinted here, "When the Sun Tries to Go On," is Koch at his zaniest; written in the early 1950s, its 2,400 lines of pseudo-sense brought the spirit of Dada into American poetry and prefigured some of the innovative techniques often attributed to Language writing. It is also the volume's most polarizing work, praised by the avant-garde and panned by just about everyone else. It is followed by two epic poems, "Ko, or A Season on Earth" and "The Duplications," which were written in the Italian form of ottava rima. Using rhyme and meter in a contemporary epic poem would be enough to guarantee a relegation to the sidelines of popularity; throw in a wholly comedic narrative about a Japanese baseball player with an explosive pitch, as Koch did, and you're pretty much out of the game for good. These are wonderful poems, made all the more fresh because they lack an attendant army of imitators taking up their concerns. The last three poems included here, "Impressions of Africa," "On the Edge," and "Seasons on Earth," show Koch's gradual movement from a poetry "ecstatically in the present tense" toward the often nostalgically tinged pathos of much of his later work. ... Read more

Product Description
This classic guide by the trail-blazer of teaching poetry offers ideas and techniques that are useful at all age levels, as well as wonderful poems by his students. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Forget How- Ask "Why?"
The simplist, profoundest stories are laid out in a delicate and spare way by Koch's nursing home students.Don't shy away because it might be sad- rejoice that Koch got these stories before they were lost.These aren't the poems people might write to impress others or even themselves- they explore the things that matter most.

If you teach anything creative- think about why you teach it.To give job skills?To meet state goals?Those are both fine reasons.But Koch is teaching in a nursing home to profoundly affect how people look at their inner landscape.Do you teach to empower and to change lives?Would you like to think that's what you do?I would read this not as a how-to but a why-to.

Assumptions and Discoveries
This book is a must for anyone working/playing with poetry and involved inintroducing others to poetry. What is most astounding is Kenneth Koch'shumility and honesty, and his willingness to admit mistakes made inteaching poetry to a group of old people at a nursing home. He divides thebook very usefully as well. First he introduces the process from start tofinish of the workshops, including some of the seniors' works. In thesecond half of the book, he prints the poems done by participants for eachexercise first, then discusses what occurred during the session. Oneparticipant in particular is very much a poet, although he'd never writtenpoetry before, and Ifell quite in love with him. However, as the bookwent to press, Kenneth says, this man passed on. You will thouroughly enjoythis book. Aside from the poetry, it has alot to say about the assumptionswe make about old and/or infirm people. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A truly Beautiful Book
This book was very touching. I loved the writing style and the beautiful poems of the Nursing home residents. It gave great and wonderful insite into their simple present lives and the wild and wonderful lives that they had, in the age, said goodbye to.On reading this book I was struck by Dr.Kenneth Koch's amazing and beautiful way of writing. After finishing the book I wrote the author and received a more that civil reply, I was very surpised and pleased. I would encourage anyone with a desire to learn about poetry and get an insite into people that make their lives in Nursing homes. ... Read more

Product Description

The classic, inspiring account of a poet's experience teaching school children to write poetry

When Kenneth Koch entered the Manhattan classrooms of P.S. 61, the children, excited by the opportunity to work with an instructor able to inspire their talent and energy, would clap and shout with pleasure. In this vivid account, Koch describes his inventive methods for teaching these children how to create poems and gives numerous examples of their work. Wishes, Lies, and Dreams is a valuable text for all those who care about freeing the creative imagination and educating the young.

Customer Reviews (6)

classic book on teaching poetry
I've used this over the years with all kinds of populations.I wish that he would revise it with more practical advice in the instruction part - particularly in how to present the exercises to different age groups.

Pretty Good - little dated
This book has some nice ideas for getting children thinking about poetry and some techniques for developing the writing process. Good for teachers who are worried about teaching poetry; it has a lot of examples of student poetry. The text could be improved with more recent student poems (many reference pop culture of the 70s) and more writing techniques from an up-to-date educational perspective.

A superb introduction to the art of writing poetry
Some 35+ years after its initial publication, this remains one of the finest books about writing poetry -- and not just for children, either! Kenneth Koch walks a delicate & difficult line here, trusting in the experiences & imaginations of children, yet also emphasizing (in an unforced but gently firm manner) the need for work & craft. Most of all, it demystifies poetry without stripping it of its wonder & magic, making it accessible to all who are willing to meet it halfway. There's never a note of condescension here, just a genuine love of poetry & the expectation that any aspiring poet will give his or her all in creating poems. Most highly recommended!

The Book to Make April Special
April is National Poetry Month. Here's a book that will bring the joy of poetry to your classroom. The title exercises are especially effective. The kids in our library loved to list lies! It sounds so simple. Try it--it's pure magic.

Every teacher should read this - and use it!
I was first introduced to this marvelous book as a sophomore in an advanced placement English and History class in high school.An older graduate of the program had gone on to study poetry under Kenneth Koch at Columbia University, and returned to share what he had learned.

Now, with Bachelor's Degrees in both English and Elementary Education and a Master's in Language, Linguistics and Culture, I still consider WISHES, LIES, AND DREAMS to be the single best book on teaching writing that I have ever read.

Koch does not waste time with "assessment" of students' skills, collecting data, or any of the other peripheral matters that clutter most writing "methods" texts.This book is about WRITING, about inspiring students to write, about focusing the talents students already have but might not know that they possess.

I first used this book as a teacher when I was student teaching with a class of recalcitrant fifth graders who had been taught strictly by the text throughout their elementary school years.They almost unanimously declared that they hated writing.Employing Koch's ideas and combining them with the District-required skills lessons, I successfully taught these students what they needed to know - and they loved it!

After I began teaching in my own classroom, I used WLD with my students in bilingual third grade classes.Again, we were successful, even with second-language learners.Years later, when I began teaching second grade, and last year, when I worked with first graders, this book was an essential part of our writing program.

Having been an elementary school teacher now for eleven years, I have come to the conclusion that the best teachers begin with the students' interests and talents, then direct this energy toward teaching the students what they don't know.

Even though the subtitle is "Teaching Children to Write Poetry", the ideas Koch presents serve as a starting point for introducing children to other forms of writing.While the book is directed primarily toward elementary school students, I cannot imagine that high schoolers and even college students could not benefit from it.

Best of all, Koch himself takes up little space explaining to us, telling us how to teach, or - as so many methodology text writers tend to do - ramble on for page after page stating the obvious.Most of the book is filled with examples of writing from the STUDENTS Koch worked with in the New York City Public Schools.These brief poems provide students with a concrete example of what children before them have written, and inspire them to write their own poetry.

The Six-Traits writing process hadn't even been invented (or at least hadn't been named that) when this book was published over thirty years ago, but I found it easy to find examples of good use of Voice, Word Choice, Conventions, Ideas, and Sentence Fluency throughout the book.

No matter what program your school district requires, WLD will help provide inspiration.Teachers can easily supplement skills and grammar lessons in addition to Koch's marvelous ideas, and will probably think of millions more.

If you're not a teacher, sit down with your children and read this book together, read the children's poems, and try some of the ideas.You'll probably end up recommending WLD to your child's teacher - and he'll be glad you did. ... Read more

Product Description
On the Great Atlantic Railway is Kenneth's Koch's inspired collection of 32 years of work. Koch, David Lehman said in The American Poetry Review, is "a masterly innovator . . . who has used his extravagant powers of wit and invention to enlarge the sphere of the poetic . . . he has stretched our ideas of what it is possible to do in poetry." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

"And something like air I love you Marina"
When one takes the time to read Koch's poetry in depth, it is an incomparable experience. The first time I read "To Marina", which is arguably my favorite of all poems, I was drawn in. I can read it again and again, constantly analyzing but at the same time feeling (and feeling deeply) the poem. Despite the number of times I have read "To Marina" each reading touches me anew and at times can move me to tears.

While one cannot put limits on creative expression, I was a bit put off by the fact that many of Koch's poems are several pages long and often his imagery strikes me as repetitive (although, in fairness, it is used differently).

Less than words can say
Koch, when at his best, is simply too large and various to be adequately accounted for in this space. In the wasteland of contemporary poetry, those unfamiliar with Koch's genius may think he is exactly the kind of poet he so brilliantly parodies.For serious readers saddened by the predominant makeup of contemporary poetic demeanor, Koch is the perfect remedy. ... Read more

Product Description

In Making Your Own Days, celebrated poet Kenneth Koch writes about poetry as no one has written about it before -- and as if no one had written about it before. Full of fresh and exciting insights and experiences, this book makes the somewhat mysterious subject of poetry clear for those who read it and for those who write it -- and for those who would like to read and write it better. Treating poetry not as a special use of language but, in fact, as a separate language -- unlike the one used in prose and conversation -- Koch is able to clarify the nature of poetic inspiration, how poems are written and revised, and what happens in a reader's mind and feelings while reading a poem.

Koch also provides a rich anthology of more than ninety works: lyric poems, excerpts from long poems and poetic plays, poems in English, and poems in translation -- by poets past and present from Homer and Sappho to Lorca, Snyder, and Ashbery. Each selection is accompanied by an illuminating explanatory note designed to complement and clarify the text.

In this book, Kenneth Koch's genius for making poetry clear and for bringing out its real pleasures is everywhere apparent.Amazon.com Review
Ordinary mortals and poet scholars alike will find somethingto love in Koch's down-to-earth approach to making sense of that mosthead scratching of literary genres. Asserting that "poetry ... is aseparate language," he steers clear of the stodgy, hidden-meaningschool of deciphering poems (wherein the reader digs through the poem"for some elusive and momentous significance") and takes us instead ona tour through the tonal, rhythmical, and metrical aspects ofpoetry. Yes, it's about the music: "The sound of words is raised to animportance equal to that of their meaning, and also to the importanceof grammar and syntax." But rather than asking us to simply take hisword for it, Koch provides lively and insightful examples (includingmany rarely anthologized poems). For instance, why does "two and twoare rather green" have little or no meaning, while "two and two / Arerather blue" smacks of the truth? Why does "I don't know whether ornot to commit suicide" plop from the mouth like so much cold oatmeal,while "To be or not to be, that is the question" is so pleasing to theears? Resonance, says Koch. "Poetry lasts because it gives theambiguous and ever-changing pleasure of being both a statement and asong."

Moving from poetry's music to its methods (comparisons,personifications, and apostrophe, to name a few), Koch continues tooffer up an amusing and edifying array of excerpts and analogies toclarify his point that with poetry, "as with baseball ... one has tounderstand a little in order to enjoy it...."Insightful, yet neverpatronizing, Making Your Own Days is for anyone who's ever reada poem and wished it were more "like a newspaper article."ThoughKoch can't tell us why Wallace Stevens wrote "I placed a jar inTennessee," or why "So much depends / upon / a red wheel / barrow"(William Carlos Williams), he helps us listen to--and savor--thatsometimes bewildering conglomeration of words otherwise known aspoetry. --Martha Silano ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Gets to important issues about poetry other books don't
Making your Own Days is about the best book you can read about poetry if you are interested in the following things (things that it seems most other books about poetry don't address or think are important).

1.Why people write poetry.
2.What makes poetry writing different from writing that isn't poetry.
3.How and why people become poets.
4.Why poets who write poetry continue to write poetry.
5.Why people who aren't poets aren't poets.
6.How to learn to appreciate poetry.
7.Why people find poetry difficult.
8.How to read poetry
9.How to appreciate poetry if you have the inclination to do so.
10. How to deepen your appreciation of poetry if you develop an appreciation for it in the first place.

Now, here is the one criticism I have of the book:

Kenneth Koch uses the word "pleasure" so much that it becomes aggravating.Unfortunately, by emphasizing or I should say overemphasizing the idea that poems provide 'pleasure,' something he never quite defines, it reduces the import of some aspects of poetry that are equally if not more important, for example, its ability to communicate the transpersonal, so that we need not feel alone in our own worlds, emotions, perceptions.A secondary aspect of the ability of poetry to communicate the transpersonal is the shared, communal and social function of poetry that can occur in poetry groups, song, and theatre. Ironically, Koch mentions and provides examples of poetic drama, for example, Lorca, and obviously Shakespeare, but doesn't cover its communal function in terms of myth and ritual. I know you can't cover everything in a primer on poetry appreciation but this was a big omission in my view--particularly since that is how I came to appreciate poetry.

wonderful
As a struggling amateur poet, I found Kochs work so liberating.He reminded me that the purpose of poetry is to bring joy and delight, no matter what the form or content. As he did in his other books, he opens up the delight of reading AND speaking poetry.

Good book for writers
This is excellent for beginning readers and writers of poetry. In the essays at the beginning, Koch is successful at convincing the reader that poetry is not as hard as we make it out to be. If we relax and don't allow ourselves to be intimidated, we can enjoy poetry. The rest of the book is devoted to groups of poems, each by one poet, thereby allowing the reader to get to know writers' styles. At the end of each section is a poetry writing exercise asking the reader to write a poem in the style they have just read. These are excellent exercises for broadening anyone's writing; they have certainly broadend my own writing. The only criticism that I have of the book is that the poets included are mostly men. I would think that it could have been more inclusive of women, especially the confessional poets such as Plath whose style new poets may grasp. Overall, this is a great book for teachers, writers, and readers.

Good book for writers
This is an excellent book for beginning readers and writers of poetry. Koch introduces the reader to poetry as an art form that can be accessible if one does not make it too hard; he makes poetry less intimidating, more comfortable. He tries to explain how we can understand it without feeling stupid. Then, he groups poems by poet so that the reader can get to know each poet's style. Finally, each section is followed by an exercise directing the reader to write in a given poet's style. I have found the exercises thought provoking; they have broadened my own writing. My only criticism is that most of the great poets represented aremen. The same could certainly be done and very successfully with more women poets, especially the confessional poets such as Plath. Overall, a great book for teachers, for writers, and for those who would like to know more about poetry but who need some convincing.

4.7 stars : Something of a gem!
Am daunted, in the task of writing a review, by the fact that the previous reviewers all got it exactly right!The late Kenneth Koch (1925-2002), whimsical poet, teacher, and enthusiast for the evangel of poetry here gives us a book ideally suited for any poet or reader from high-schooler to nonagenarian.

The first 135 pages of the book are something of an instruction manual, or an explanation of why poetry seems so strange at first.He patiently explains the obvious : sound matters as much as sense; words have musical value; there is a "poetry language" -- or perhaps several poetry languages? -- that we discover through reading anything & everything in sight.He comes up with the happy comparison of poetry as language being put through a synthesizer!

He speaks of the need to build up a "poetry base" through much exposure to the poems of the past and present; he "opens up" the Wallace Stevens poem "Anecdote of the Jar" and makes enchanting a poem that irritated me on previous readings; he makes apposite remarks on revision and inspiration ...

The latter half of the book is a neat -- but not quite comprehensive, as Koch himself admits -- anthology of poetry from across the globe, & encompassing three millennia.From Li Po (Li Bai) to Lorca, from Sappho to Snyder, from Ovid to O'Hara.Senghor and Cesaire are alongside Ashbery and Wallace Stevens.Marvell and Shakespeare, Whitman and Hopkins and several in between, before and after.Most of the poems are suffixed by a comment by Koch of less than a page (except for Keats's "Bright Star" which he allows to shine by itself!).Especially good, I thought, his brief note on the sonnet by George Herbert, "Prayer," which I have been trying of late to memorize.

Excellent reading for the train, the waiting room, the bed, or whatever region of the house you call your workshop or study!! ... Read more

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Product Description
Selections from the work of twenty-three modern poets, from Emily Dickinson and Gerard Manley Hopkins to Gary Snyder and Leroi Jones, including translations of poems by five European poets. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Like poetry?Learn to love it

Fun tour through the ins and outs of poetry from Whitman to Koch.A bit reductionist, but a great way to read the greatest hits of a handful of greatest poets and fill up a notebook of your own.Great for the classroom too.

R. Elliott
Excellent book. Arrived promptly. I would have liked to see a more modern selection of poets - ah well.

Senior Citizen Poetry Study Group
We used "Sleeping on the Wing" in our Senior Citizen poetry study group.It was clear and understandable to persons who had little or no background in poetry (many thought "if it didn't rhyme it wasn't poetry")We also had persons who had studied poetry before - even an English teacher - who found it instructive.It was a wonderful book for our diverse group.

We especially liked the selection of poets, some all of us had heard about before - Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats - and others most of us were unfamiliar with - Rainer Maria Rilke, Guillaume Apollinaire, Federico Garcia Lorca.The editors describe each author's poetry in such an exciting way we were drawn into the emotions of the words, the sounds, the images, without feeling our study was too technical.Each week we eagerly looked forward to the next poet.It was like opening doors for us - twenty three doors!

Our group is not a writing group but a few people did write poems following the suggestions of the editors.We were all delighted with the results, including the authors.The rest of us are now thinking we will try too sometime!!

It Works!
Having taught creative writing at the high-school level for almost ten years, I have been acquainted with a multitude of writing textbooks. SLEEPING ON THE WING is the only one which has worked as a whole. In my new course for 2001 entitled simply POETRY, I have used each and every poem collected and exercise designed here by Koch. They work. They're intelligent, focused, and student friendly. This selection of poetry from the modern canon is both challenging and accessible.

Best of all, this anthology is downright fun. Koch's glosses are straightforward and informative, and his exercises doubtlessly grow out of his own lifetime of experience with writing poetry. Since I write along with my classes, I, too, have been wildly pleased with my own poetry production using Koch's exercises.

This is a fine text for the autodidact who wishes to teach her- or himself how to write a poem. However, the energy and zest which flows from a larger group of young poets working together is invaluable as inspiration.

Mr. Koch, you are not simply a stuffy tweed from Columbialand. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and grace.

You Won't Get Sleepy Reading Sleeping on the Wing
A wonderful anthology with short, lively pieces chosen especially for young people in high school, but the selection of poems may well delight readers of all ages -- not only beginners! Among the poets represented arenot only predictable classics -- Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, WilliamButler Yeats, T.S. Eliot -- but also such contemporaries as thepost-moderns John Ashbery and Amiri Baraka. The selection of 23 poets --American, British, European -- has a somewhat urban, playful qualityreminiscent of the sixties: Koch is definitely New York School. New YorkCity style or not, though, my colleagues and students upstate have foundmuch here to intrigue them. The editorial comments and creative writingsuggestions are especially valuable to teachers who want to make poetrycome alive in the classroom. It's also worth noting that the book is well-designed:the poems look good on the page -- they invite the kind ofreading and creative response they embody. From the very first poem we readtogether -- "Disillusionment at Ten O'clock" by Wallace Stevens(beginning "The houses are haunted / By white night-gowns" andending with "an old sailor" who "Drunk and asleep in hisboots / Catches tigers / In red weather") the class was wide awake. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Thanks for the great service
I appreciated the great service and product from you.Keep up the good work.

Very Helpful
I'm one of those people who used to find it difficult to say no when asked to do favors for people. I always felt guilty like I was doing something terrible if I said no, but Speaking the Truth in Love helped me to realize that it's not a crime or a sin to say no. Being able to say no is your right as a human being, especially if you know doing something is going to leave us stressed or tired. Not only that, but the book succinctly demonstrates the differences between being assertive, aggressive, and passive agressive. A helpful quiz was included in the back to guage how the quiz taker normally responds which opened my eyes. I like this book so much, I've recommended it to a couple of friends who also have trouble saying no and end up feeling either frazzled or angry because they're being used...like I used to. This is an excellent book!

Well-Meaning But Dry Book That's All About Assertiveness
This dated, dry book is a psychotherapist's way to approach being assertive.There aren't a lot of contemporary examples or honest dealings with human emotions.Instead it's the peaceful approach to becoming less passive or aggressive, as if you're sitting in a therapist's office.

The authors use the title's scripture verse as the basis of the book but don't really expound much on it.Instead the title could have more accurately been "The Step-by-Step Therapist's Guide to Assertiveness."The chapters are written in a dull, simplistic manner that encourages readers to get in touch with themselves. There is a little practical encouragement, but it's all stuff that you can hear every day from a counselor or pastor. It's no surprise then that the authors are a female social worker/counselor and a male psychologist/pastor.

The book is written under a vague Christian theology that doesn't really deal with concrete issues--instead it just assumes we are all going to get along well together if we all act assertively.The point of the book is fine, but in the end it comes across as a guide to manners instead of dealing with real-world applications of moving from passivity or aggressiveness to assertiveness.

Be assertive, not aggressive.
This is a wonderfully-written book for those of us who find it difficult to express our own needs. Placed in a Christian context, this book removes the guilt from not agreeing with people. Its premise is based on good, sound psychology: we all are valuable individuals, worthy of being treated with respect. Also, it reminds us that the responsibility is our own for helping others to understand what we want/need. Easy reading.

Easy-to-read introduction to Assertive living
Ruth Koch is a counselor, social worker, and educator; Ken Haugk is a pastor and the founder of Stephen Ministries (an organization that exists to equip church members in basic counseling and listening skills in order to be of service during others' difficult times)."Speaking the Truth in Love" is one book in the training curriculum and focuses on how one can grow to be more assertive.

Assertiveness can be defined as "moving toward one's self as you move toward another person."This is to be contrasted with Passiveness (in which a person decides not to reveal his true feelings and ends up experiencing guilt and frustration...thus working against himself) and Aggressiveness (in which a person attacks and thus works against another person).The authors explain why Assertiveness is the best of these three options, hold up Jesus as the ultimate example of Assertiveness, and give practical advice for becoming more Assertive.The authors liberally use anecdotes and examples to illustrate their points, making this book an easy read.However, although the information is laid out simply, the material itself is certainly not simplistic.Kock and Haugk know their subject matter well, they have a good understanding of Christian theology, and they are prove able to teach the material in an understandable and engaging way.

Although this book is intended for Christians going through Stephen Ministry training, you don't need to be either a Stephen Minister or a Christian to benefit from "Speaking the Truth in Love."I, personally, am not going through the Stephen Ministry program and found the book highly beneficial; Jesus is treated more as a historical figure to emulate rather than True God and True Man.It should also be mentioned that, while other similar books tend to assume the reader is Passive, this book strikes a balance between addressing a Passive reader and an Aggressive reader.

In all, "Speaking the Truth" is highly recommended.It serves as a good introduction to interpersonal communication, conflict resolution, leadership, and self-differentiation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Hilarious and brilliant
This book contains the hilarious poem "Possible World," a sort of parody of Mallarmé's "Un coup de dés," along with a brilliant memoir and several delightful shorter poems."The Moor not taken" is also very funny.Buy it together with "Sun Out" to see the very early and the very late Koch side by side.

A Brilliant Follow-up
Koch has followed up his tremendous last collection "New Addresses" with this brilliant collection in which we see the full of range of the powers that made him one of the giants of American poetry - Bell Canto, in Koch's oft-used Ottava Rima, further solidifies his place as a great master of the form. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

English Teacher Says....
You must own this book if you are teaching anyone how to write poetry.Absolutely essential!

Don't Be Scared of Poetry
I know a lot of teachers who would be open to teaching poetry in the classroom, if they themselves weren't frightened of it. This book offers a variety of poetry -- from all forms and time periods -- and accompanies each one with both an explanation of the poem itself and suggested applications in the classroom. I first encountered the book in a course on teaching English, and every class, we started with a poem in this book and wrote our own poem of imitation. It felt like going to a spa retreat every time I got to class, because through poetry, we were able to creatively express our feelings, and the exercises also helped create an atmosphere of trust in the room, where we were open with our work and unafraid of criticism. The book also contains a lot of student-generated responses to show that even the most complex poetry contains themes that can be translated to any grade level.

classic book on poetry appreciation for children
I love this book, and it's a must if you are getting Wishes, Lies & Dreams.I wish that he had more poetry for younger children, with tips on how to help them understand it.

Poetry for children -- and for adults!
A follow-up to the author's equally wonderful "Wishes, Lies, and Dreams," this superb volume is one of the best sources for teaching poetry that I've ever read. How many of us found that school crushed any budding love of poetry we had, rather than nurturing it? Well, Kenneth Koch will bring that crushed bud back into full, glorious blossom! He has a rare gift -- he removes the barriers to poetry, the ones that say it's too deep, too different, too complex, for the likes of ordinary people; yet he never removes its mystery, its wonder, its beauty. If anything, he makes it available & familiar to all in a way that only enhances its rapturous qualities. He makes us realize that a poem is as obvious & rich, as subtle & tangible, as a flower. The poem is there for anyone, for everyone, to savor & enjoy.

Most highly recommended!

Category for favoirte books of all time
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This is one of my favorite books:

"I like to write about poems. I like poems.
Some girls are like poems."
-Eric Filisbret, 3rd or 4th grade

"Dog where do you get that bark?
Dragon where do you get that flame?
Kitten where do you get that meow?
Rose where do you get that red?
Bird, where do you get those wings?"
-Desiree Lynn Collier, 3rd or 4th grade

"Come with me and I'll show you my heart. I
know where it is and I know all about it...
Come with me, I'll take you to a world, not
a world that you know. Not a world that
I know. But a world that nobody knows,
not you or me... "

It's ironic, the good kind, for me to learn
so much from a book about ok, teaching
children about poetry.


... Read more

Product Description
Intensely serious beneath a surface of lightness and wit, Kenneth Koch's poems "maintain power," Denis Donoghue wrote, "by rarely choosing to exert it." Koch's virtuosity -- he has written many plays, an extravagant novel (The Red Robins), and short stories (Hotel Lambosa), and has done numerous collaborations with painters -- seems part of a continuing and energetic attempt to write (in the words of Ariosto) "things never said in prose before or in verse." Almost every poem is a new kind of poem, a new flight -- in this volume, for example, the theme and variations of "One Train May Hide Another," the "poems by ships at sea," the post-Apollinairean couplets of "A Time Zone," the Chinese poetry-influenced quatrains of "The First Step," and the hundred or so brief poems that together make up the poem "On Aesthetics."

"Kenneth Koch, a unique poet, has continued to explain his 'own idea of what made sense,' writing poems for forty years, without ceasing to be human and funny, without ever forgetting what poetry is. The result, for the reader, is an unusual delight... He is above all a love poet, therefore a serious one. His idea 'to do something with language / That has never been done before' (Days and Nights), expressed with an immodesty that is only apparent, is made good throughout." Frank Kermode ... Read more

Product Description
A charter member of the legendary New York School of poets that includes John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, and James Schuyler, Kenneth Koch has become one of America's best known and best loved poets. His apt parodies and zany poetic conceits have earned him the distinction of being the funniest poet in America, and his extravagant imagination and knack for high hilarity have pleased generations of readers.
Here, in The Art of Poetry, Koch offers amusing and thought-provoking essays on the nature of the poetic moment, from its heartfelt emergence in an elementary school classroom to its raucous display in a set of satirical cartoons drawn by the author. Also included are interviews with Allen Ginsberg and Jordan Davis in which Koch discusses a range of diverse topics, including literary criticism, French poetry, and Santa Claus. The Art of Poetry provides Koch's audience with not only the musings and mischievous thoughts of the poetic mind, but also the reflections of the most respected poetry teacher in America.
Kenneth Koch's other books include On the Great Atlantic Rainway: Selected Poems 1950-1988; Seasons on Earth, Days and Nights, The Art of Love, One Thousand Avant-Garde Plays, and One Train, for which he won the Bollingen Prize in American Poetry. He is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
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Customer Reviews (1)

The Poetics of Joy
There are those who speak of the "anxiety" of poetry, but there is a case to be made for poetry that results not from agony or a confessional impulse but out of pleasure, the desire to communicate pleasure to an audience hungry for it. Koch generates as much pleasure as any poet, and it is not only the comic value of his poetry that recommends it but the spirit of creativity itself. In "The Art of Poetry" you get a kind of guide to poetics, an "ars poetica" in the Horatian manner with an American accent. You also get "Fresh Air," his memorable 1950s diatribe against academic poetry, still pertinent today. A necessary antidote to the New York Times. ... Read more

Product Description
Kenneth Koch, who has already considerably "stretched our ideas of what it is possible to do in poetry" (David Lehman), here takes on the classic poetic device of apostrophe, or direct address. His use of it gives him yet another chance to say things never said before in prose or in verse and, as well, to bring new life to a form in which Donne talked to Death, Shelley to the West Wind, Whitman to the Earth, Pound to his Songs, O'Hara to the Sun at Fire Island.

Koch, in this new book, talks to things important in his life -- to Breath, to World War Two, to Orgasms, to the French Language, to Jewishness, to Psychoanalysis, to Sleep, to his Heart, to Friendship, to High Spirits, to his Twenties, to the Unknown. He makes of all these "new addresses" an exhilarating autobiography of a most surprising and unforeseeable kind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Intriguing...
... definitely not what I expected when I first ordered it, but the book has grown on me some. It's basically a collection of poetic addresses from the poet to various aspects and times of his life. The one for "Carelessness" is my favorite at the the moment, but many others have struck chords with me as well. A good book if you're already a fan of Koch's work.

Autobiographical personal poetry appeals
These poems are addresses to subjects and through them Koch in a sense not only gives us his ideas and attitudes about these subjects but tells his own life -story. I found of particular interest his poem on 'Jewishness' in which he really explains his changing attitude to this element of his identity. The 'poem 'in a sense represents a return to a subject long- neglected. And if it lacks a deeper connection with the religious meanings of Judaism it nonetheless is rich with incidents and perceptions. One of these relates to Koch's experience as a soldier on Leyte where he overhears another soldier say ," Where are the Jews" . Koch does not reply. This small part of the poem moved me. My uncle Larry Zeibert of blessed memory was another Jewish soldier on Leyte. He in fact was in the first Ranger landing boat in the invasion.
Koch's poetry reveals great intelligence, and sensitivity. This is one of those books of poetry one can read and understand and learn from.

Koch's Best
Easily Koch's best book -- and that is saying a lot.

All the poems here are written as direct address -- the "you" in each poem is an inanimate object, place, thing, or event...allowing the poet to write deeply and freely about the important events in his life. In the end, you realize it is a kind of autobiography.

"New Addresses" is moving, connected, funny, adventurous, experimental, free. It's a huge success. You should read it.

Vibrant and good humored
These poems are so witty and easily read that I almost made the mistake missing their depth or emotional resonance. It is only on the second or third reading of a poem like "To My Twenties" that a phrase like"What you gave me you gave me whole/But as for telling/Me how best touse it/You weren't a genius at that" did I really see the breezynessof that style emulates the ease with which those years in someone's lifecan fly by. I was moved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

On Beauty
I first discovered Kenneth Koch in a Boston bookshop, looking through volumes of poetry while waiting for a friend. I read a few excerpts from "The Collected Poems" ('Talking to Patrizia' and 'To Marina' were the first two I read). Later on, I invested in my own copy. Recently, I took the Art of Love out of a local library and read it, not necessarily in the correct order, in one or two sittings. The poems found within this collection, besides "The Circus" are over-the-top, at points laugh-out-loud manuals on how to appreciate beauty, read and write poetry and how to truly love a woman (by tying her arms behind her back to make her breasts look pretty!). Most of the poems in this book are lengthy but they are quick and enjoyable reads just the same because of Koch's funloving, optimistic voice. If you find the time, this is an absolutely a worthwhile read.

Not for those lacking tenacity
As I see that there has been only one review of this book, I feel compelled to add another voice.I will be brief:reading any of Kenneth Koch's extended poems requires patience, humor, and a willingness to suspend judgement until all the stanzas have been read, and read again, since Koch often purposefully allows the casual reader to be misled. Koch often seems to be deliberately offensive in his poems (the first sections of "The Art of Love" is one example), though it is through this device t he culls the serious reader from those who might get the over-arching compassion and wonder that is present in all of Kenneth Koch's work.

P.S. -- Kenneth Koch passed away earlier this month; an interview with him is preserved in the National Public Radio Archive.

A wonderful book about love and the rest of the world
This is a book of poetryquite unlike anything available these days. Drawing from a vast range of history, locations and experiences (both literary and physical) Kenneth Koch achieves a brilliant and thorough description of love that remains timeless ... Read more

Product Description
In this volume, the themes and variations of "One Train May Hide Another", the "poems by ships at sea", and the post-Apollinaire couplets of "A Time Zone", for example, reveal Kenneth Koch's interest in new forms, directions and kinds of writing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

magnificent
One of the so-called New York poets (Ashbury, O'Hara, Schuyler), and (I think) the best. There are subsequent poetry books by Koch, and there is now the collected Koch too, but he wrote a lot, and this is a good starter. The subject matter is wide, the viewpoints quirky, sometimes almost surrealistic, and highly imaginative. Often there is some area of English or European poetry which - if you recognise it - adds another dimension to the delights of the surface. If you like this, go also for New Addresses or Possible Worlds. The long poems (Epic sized) are also immense fun (Duplications; Ko). Koch is a virtuoso poet: metrical skill, flamboyant use of traditional rhyme schemes, but he could also do free verse too ... ... Read more