Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry

Alan Dugan is one of the greatest poets writing in America. He is the perfect antidote to the romantic, overblown, overwritten, snobby, too-cool-for-you poetry that drives me nuts. His poetry is honest, tough, controversial, critical, well-crafted, and powerful. Poems Seven is not to be missed.

I read a lot of poetry. Somehow I had completely missed Alan Dugan. Then, thankfully, the National Book Awards judges picked Poems 7 for the 2001 award. It's an extraordinary book; Dugan is an extraordinary poet. He should have won the Pulitzer, too, but he may just be too left-wing and energetic and raucous and funny for the Pulitzer. He's also dead serious, and makes a whole lot of other poets writing today look like dilettantes, dandies, stuffed shirts, lightweights and poseurs. These are mostly short, narrative, clear, yet also distinctly, and importantly, strange poems. They're working-class, brainy, rebellious, delightful. Buy this book!

Alan Dugan's poetry is wonderfully crisp. He writes poetry with the seriousness it deserves while also displaying a comical side. His depth of intelligence is matched by no other living poet. Buy this volume and be amazed. If you aren't amazed then you should try reading it again.

Forget the dismal frightened little p-c conformists whose fears have annihilated their sensibilities & whose greatest thrill in life is trashing brilliant iconoclastic talent. This is first rate stuff, cerebral & visceral & on target at all times. This is Poetry!

Alan Dugan, first published in the early sixties, has always been a rebel. His work is easily recognized, dense and irreverant. He has maintained a style throughout the years that is unmistakable. If you want to produce modern poetry, do yourself a favor and read Alan Dugan.