52 Books in 52 Weeks, it's called. The challenge is simple: read a book every week for a year.
03. Donkey gospel.
Poe, during Whiskerino, did a series of book recommendations, and transcribed the poem Jet from this book, which was gripping. I ordered it immediately. Donkey gospel is Hoagland’s second book of poems; it won the James Laughlin Award of the Academy of American Poets, which honors a poet’s second book. Hoagland writes pagelong paeans to himself and to life as a man in the 20th century, unafraid to celebrate and/or expose the banal, maybe both at the same time. He develops a rhythm that elevates the poems; he also has a lavish way with metaphor and he knows it. And he uses it. He’s unapologetically messed up at times, selfish, sex-obsessed, but there’s a tenderness in his affection for himself, warts and all. This is, in fact, his aim (I think): donkey::gospel, profane::sacred. A remarkable book.
