Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis
6 journalers for this copy...
The last book of poems by Wendy Cope that I released seems to have been very well received, so I thought I would release another one.Making Coffee for Kingsley Amis is Cope's first proper collection. In the main, the poems deal with romance, love and friendship in her acomplished witty but bittersweet style. As well as humorous poems, though, such as My Lover and Strugnell's Rubaiyat, there are some serious ones. Tich Miller and At 3 am are both particularly poignant.
This book will be given to WistfulDragon first as an RABCK, hopefully tomorrow at the London BC meetup.
Journal Entry 2 by WistfulDragon from Streatham, Greater London United Kingdom on Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Thank you for this, rocketman! I suppose I had better start gathering names for the ray now.Due to Molyneux not turning up last night I have the luxury of having two Wendy Cope books with me at the moment - although that will change when I get to the post office, probably tomorrow.
Journal Entry 3 by WistfulDragon from Streatham, Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Still reading this, but have started gathering names for the ray that UrbanSpaceman volunteered the book for. So far they are:Glitterlover
MrsBridgewater
Beebarf
Winterson
Loopy1
rahar109
sunflowergirl
Reading-fairy
Spike1972
Journal Entry 4 by WistfulDragon from Streatham, Greater London United Kingdom on Friday, May 20, 2005
This is a wonderful book, full of insightful verse, much of which I can relate to on a personal level. Some made me laugh, some made me want to cry. What more can one ask?
THANK YOU for all the glitter and the prezzie. I actually need a keyring at the moment so ta for that. And of course thank you for the book. I shall look forward to an afternoon in the sun reading it.
I really enjoyed the funny, witty, sharp and astute poetry. Perfect reading.
I admit my literary knowledge was lacking in some areas so the parody was lost on me in places.
Overall I enjoyed and will seek some more out.
Thanks so much for sharing. Off to mrsbridgewater at the unconvention 2005.
I admit my literary knowledge was lacking in some areas so the parody was lost on me in places.
Overall I enjoyed and will seek some more out.
Thanks so much for sharing. Off to mrsbridgewater at the unconvention 2005.
Thanks for this! Will read it and pass it on.
Journal Entry 8 by beeofgoodcheer from Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Arrived safely with me today - I will read and see if the people on the list are still interested in a ring, as it's been a while!
Journal Entry 9 by beeofgoodcheer from Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on Friday, August 31, 2007
Amazon.co.uk Review
Wendy Cope is very clever. She's good at taking much of what poetry holds dear and pricking its balloon. Her humour is an acquired taste and one short poem from "Strugnell's Haiku" sets the tone of this volume, first published in 1986, to great popular acclaim.
The leaves have fallen
And the snow has fallen and
Soon my hair also ...
a perfect haiku in form and perfectly ridiculous. This is her raison d'etre, to highlight the absurd in love, sex, courtship and in the sometimes stuffy, self-righteous literary poetry world. The title poem "Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis" was inspired by a dream apparently and the short four-line verse tells us no more.
Some kind of record seemed vital.
I knew it wouldn't be much of a poem
But I love the title.
She tantalises but always stops short of deeper meaning. She mocks the rather pompous task of the Poet Laureate with her "All Purpose Poem for State Occasions":
The nation rejoices or mourns
As this happy or sombre day dawns.
She slips into the bizarre persona of a policeman assigned to patrol the unconscious of Ted Hughes and parodies early reading books in an a-b a-b rhyme about an adulterous milkman: "Go Peter! Go Jane! Come milkman, come!" Her nursery rhymes in the style of Wordsworth ("Baa Baa Black Sheep") and T.S. Eliot ("Hickory Dickory Dock") are hilarious. It comes as quite a shock to come upon several serious poems, such as "On Finding an Old Photograph" in which she muses on her father before her birth and "all his sadness / and the things I didn't give him." The narrator of "Tich Miller" is bullied in school. "They usually chose me, the lesser dud / and she lolloped, unselected / to the back of the other team." There is little jauntiness in "At 3 a.m." in which the narrator imagines someone sleeping somewhere else with a woman next to him, crying quietly. Most of Cope's poems confirm popular notions of what poetry should be--rhyming, accessible and direct. In "Rondeau Redouble", she's back laughing as though the hurt never happened at all.
There are so many kinds of awful men
One can't avoid them all. She often said
She'd never make the same mistake again:
She always made a new mistake instead.
This is a slim volume, but one which holds several gems. Cope is a better satirist than a "serious" poet, but often with her tales of human relationships, she's spot on. Recommended!
Wendy Cope is very clever. She's good at taking much of what poetry holds dear and pricking its balloon. Her humour is an acquired taste and one short poem from "Strugnell's Haiku" sets the tone of this volume, first published in 1986, to great popular acclaim.
The leaves have fallen
And the snow has fallen and
Soon my hair also ...
a perfect haiku in form and perfectly ridiculous. This is her raison d'etre, to highlight the absurd in love, sex, courtship and in the sometimes stuffy, self-righteous literary poetry world. The title poem "Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis" was inspired by a dream apparently and the short four-line verse tells us no more.
Some kind of record seemed vital.
I knew it wouldn't be much of a poem
But I love the title.
She tantalises but always stops short of deeper meaning. She mocks the rather pompous task of the Poet Laureate with her "All Purpose Poem for State Occasions":
The nation rejoices or mourns
As this happy or sombre day dawns.
She slips into the bizarre persona of a policeman assigned to patrol the unconscious of Ted Hughes and parodies early reading books in an a-b a-b rhyme about an adulterous milkman: "Go Peter! Go Jane! Come milkman, come!" Her nursery rhymes in the style of Wordsworth ("Baa Baa Black Sheep") and T.S. Eliot ("Hickory Dickory Dock") are hilarious. It comes as quite a shock to come upon several serious poems, such as "On Finding an Old Photograph" in which she muses on her father before her birth and "all his sadness / and the things I didn't give him." The narrator of "Tich Miller" is bullied in school. "They usually chose me, the lesser dud / and she lolloped, unselected / to the back of the other team." There is little jauntiness in "At 3 a.m." in which the narrator imagines someone sleeping somewhere else with a woman next to him, crying quietly. Most of Cope's poems confirm popular notions of what poetry should be--rhyming, accessible and direct. In "Rondeau Redouble", she's back laughing as though the hurt never happened at all.
There are so many kinds of awful men
One can't avoid them all. She often said
She'd never make the same mistake again:
She always made a new mistake instead.
This is a slim volume, but one which holds several gems. Cope is a better satirist than a "serious" poet, but often with her tales of human relationships, she's spot on. Recommended!
Journal Entry 10 by beeofgoodcheer from Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on Wednesday, September 12, 2007
No response from Winterson - she seems to be MIA. Will try Loopy1.
Journal Entry 11 by beeofgoodcheer from Stowmarket, Suffolk United Kingdom on Saturday, September 15, 2007
Off on its travel now to loopy1
Journal Entry 12 by beeofgoodcheer at Bookring in Mail, Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, September 15, 2007
Released 16 yrs ago (9/15/2007 UTC) at Bookring in Mail, Bookring -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
This was waiting for me when I got back this morning. I've already dipped into it, and discovered that yes, Tich Miller is poignant.
Thanks for this, I'll pass it on when I've had a chance to enjoy the poems.
Thanks for this, I'll pass it on when I've had a chance to enjoy the poems.
