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JOIN THE PLANETS: NEW & SELECTED POEMS Reed Bye 226 pages, paperback Cover by Donna Dennis ISBN: 0-935992-23-5 Copyright © 2005 $14.00 Reed Bye's poems have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, among them Out of This World, The Angel Hair Anthology, Nice to See You: Homage to Ted Berrigan, Sleeping on the Wing and Civil Disobediences. His previous books include Some Magic at the Dump, Erstwhile Charms, Border Theme, Heart's Bestiary and Passing Freaks and Graces. His first CD, Long Way Around, was released in 2005 by Farfalla Press / McMillian and Parrish. He is a professor at Naropa University's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and lives, with his wife, in Boulder, Colorado. Join the Planets contains a generous selection from his earlier books, plus almost one hundred pages of new poems. "There is a kindness to Reed Bye's poetry that is impossible to separate from the considerable skills variously on display throughout his work; it is part of his sense of measure, and would alone, rare quality that it is, make Join The Planets a pleasure to engage. That Bye's poems are rich with observation and musical range, as well as a deeply nuanced sense of scale, raises the stakes: this is a sorely needed book, and it is a joy to have it in the world." Anselm Berrigan "Such fine work over so many years' sheer poem! Modest, undernoticed, Reed Bye knows the ropes, holds to the adventure and shares out his finds. All praise!" Clark Coolidge "Join the Planets, esteemed reader, charts a history of a poet acutely observing and exalting, in the tradition of William Carlos Williams, the daily. Someone, a mysterious watcher watching the watcher goes by, and suddenly the visions turn to true, a true only made possible by poetry. Yet be prepared for a boisterous concertina, if you can hear it amidst the lovely quietude." Gloria Frym "Philosophical, precise, always mindful of "quick surprise," Reed Bye's poems are quite unlike anyone else's. Saying that, I think I mean that they are for and about and around everybody else in the poets' company that has long delighted in their wit and musicality. There are times when their intelligent slapstick is like James Stewart splitting a pill with Alice, then following her down the rabbit hole and proceeding, impeccably, hand in hand, through wondrous narrative territories that go way beyond doctrinaire surrealism in their absolute real-ness. It is a great pleasure to see this substantial, long overdue collection of Reed's brilliant works in print." Anselm Hollo "Back up against the Rocky Mountains, on the foothills and plains facing the great eastern sunrise, lives the poet, in his wry and modest existence of merit and wisdom. A singer with a becoming lightness of tone--'every note anticipates the next.' A wakeful observant mind, checking out the decibels of the classic wake up and fly right think-talk of his odyssey." Joanne Kyger UPDATED ORDERING INFO COMING SOON RETURN TO BOOK LIST |
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