Reviews for Subduing Demons in America: Selected Poems 1962-2007

The average rating for Subduing Demons in America: Selected Poems 1962-2007 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-04-28 00:00:00 Andrea Cantrell John Giorno kicks ass. A lot of the poems in this book were written using the now famous cut-up technique, which produces Giorno wisdom at its best and rawest. Primordial image, ad lines, porn, mantras, newspaper fragments and even the Constitution swirl in a Tibetan ass-fuck of pure Giorno brew. This is one of those rare poets who breaks the scene and needs no excuses. He belongs to no category I know of, except that of the wise Fire tribe; the poets who burn to shine. Listen to Giorno perform: he will change for you forever what you expect of spoken poetry. And you'll know you need to amp up your game.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-07-23 00:00:00 Joseph Vargas I read "I Resigned Myself to Being Here" in the anthology UP LATE years ago and it made a tremendous impression on me. After reading this Giorno collection it's still my favorite, the poem that sums up his world view the way "Heroin" does for Jim Carroll. Don't get me wrong, Carroll wrote more than one good poem and so has Giorno, I especially like the early bulletin-style poems here from the 60s inspired by news events. Some prefer to hear Giorno read his work (he's been a promoter of the idea of oral poetry over the years, and not just because he said "You're my toilet, eat it out, I'm gonna feed you") but I'd rather eat it up on the printed page....I don't like his voice, it's sort of high and whiny. He remains an interesting writer, one of the last veterans of the Beat and Warhol eras still out there and writing....