Dorothy Parker: Complete Poems Book

In Dorothy Parker, I have found my sarcastic-soulmate!

Her poems are full of wit, sarcasm, but also cynicism, hopeless romanticism, self-pity, self-love. Everything! her poems have everything in them. She's one of those poets that actually touched my heart with her words. She conveys her feelings masterfully through her poems. Some are funny, some are heart-wrenching. She can do both!

'Symptom Recital' is one of her most raw and exposed poems. We all had periods of time when we didn't like ourselves. She conveys this feeling so brilliantly here! I actually got her, I could feel those feelings with her while reading:

I do not like my state of mind;
I'm bitter, querulous, unkind.
I hate my legs, I hate my hands,
I do not yearn for lovelier lands.
I dread the dawn's recurrent light;
I hate to go to bed at night.
I snoot at simple, earnest folk.
I cannot take the gentlest joke.
I find no peace in paint or type.
My world is but a lot of tripe.
I'm disillusioned, empty-breasted.
For what I think, I'd be arrested.
I am not sick, I am not well.
My quondam dreams are shot to hell.
My soul is crushed, my spirit sore;
I do not like me any more.
I cavil, quarrel, grumble, grouse.
I ponder on the narrow house.
I shudder at the thought of me…
I'm due to fall in love again.

'Threnody' was another brilliant poem by her, my favorite part of it:

Lilacs blossom just as sweet
Now my heart is shattered.
If I bowled it down the street,
Who's to say it mattered?
If there's one that rode away
What would I be missing?
Lips that taste of tears, they say,
Are the best for kissing.

'The Second Oldest Story' is amazing as well, here's my favorite part:

Go I must along my ways
Though my heart be ragged,
Dripping bitter through the days,
Festering, and jagged.
Smile I must at every twinge,
Kiss, to time its throbbing;
He that tears a heart to fringe
Hates the noise of sobbing.

Alongside her romanticism, she expresses her cynicism as well, as can been seen in another favorite of mine:

'Somebody's Song'

This is what I vow;
He shall have my heart to keep,
Sweetly will we stir and sleep,
All the years, as now.
Swift the measured sands may run;
Love like this is never done;
He and I are welded one:
This is what I vow.

This is what I pray:
Keep him by me tenderly;
Keep him sweet in pride of me,
Ever and a day;
Keep me from the old distress;
Let me, for our happiness,
Be the one to love the less:
This is what I pray.

This is what I know:
Lovers' oaths are thin as rain;
Love's a harbinger of pain-
Would it were not so!
Ever is my heart a-thirst,
Ever is my love accurst;
He is neither last nor first:
This is what I know.

She also has some pretty witty poems, such as this one:

'Observation'

If I don't drive around the park,
I'm pretty sure to make my mark.
If I'm in bed each night by ten,
I may get back my looks again,
If I abstain from fun and such,
I'll probably amount to much,
But I shall stay the way I am,
Because I do not give a damn.

There were many, many more poems that I liked, most notable are these: 'Love song', 'Indian Summer', 'One Perfect Rose', 'Unfortunate Coincidence', 'A Very Short Song', 'Resume', 'Distance', 'Incurable', 'Interior', 'Rainy Night', 'Recurrence', 'Sanctuary', 'Song in a Minor Key', 'Surprise', 'Temps Perdu', 'The Choice', 'The Last Question', 'Wisdom'.

I would definitely read and re-read her poems again and again. She's officially my favorite!