Poems by Ron Padgett
These witty poems ache to save the world—infusing light, energy, and humor into everyday life.
Padgett’s title poem asks: “How long do you want to go on being the person you think you are? / How Long, a city in China.” With the arrival of his first grandchild, Padgett becomes even more inspired to confront the eternal mysteries with a wry, rueful honesty. This elegiac and witty collection illuminates the world at large and at small—from the Great Wall of China to the radiant details of the everyday—and brings wonder and pleasure with it.
Awards
PW’s Top 10 of Forthcoming 2011 Poetry
Reviews
“Padgett’s sense of romantic joy is undiminished, as is his thoughtfulness about language and the ways in which time changes meaning, and sense can morph into eloquent absurdity.” –Entertainment Weekly
“What sets Padgett apart from other accessible, humorous poets is his willingness to become both difficult and serious when a poem requires it. . . . Padgett’s complexity lies in his ability to depart from a thought as soon as he introduces it (the poem “Death,” for instance, begins, “Let’s change the subject”), a strategy of which he is never unconscious: “What was I thinking about/ a few minutes ago when/ another thought / swept me away?” It is these instances, in which Padgett uses his poems to help piece together his recollections, that give this collection its vulnerability and sincerity.”—Publishers Weekly
“Reading Padgett one realizes that playfulness and lightness of touch are not at odds with seriousness. . . . As is often the case, leave it to the comic writer to best convey our tragic predicament.” —Charles Simic, New York Review of Books
