I like some of Williams' earlier books better--"Tar" and "Lies" are two that come to mind--because in them he told more stories, and the stories themselves were more memorable. There are still a few good stories here ("The Poet" and "King," for example), but many of these poems are more abstract, more interested in delineating psychological states than in recreating memories. Williams writes the best long line in contemporary poetry (a free verse equivalent of the alexandrine or the hexameter),

This Winner of the Pulitzer Prize is a must read. It was strong as it was provocative, it tackled different facets of life and history, even the Civil Rights era. The book covered lost, failure, marriage, love and all the inevitable things humans experience. Certain poems give you that perfect story that you can't help but be a part of it. My favorites are: Ice, Archetypes, The Poet, Stone, Droplets, Risk, Glass, Dream, The Cup, Depths and Biopsy Here's a snippet from the poem Depths O...

Oh my that was wordy. Visiting Auschwitz and comparing the "many silent space" to "school in summer" ; commenting on a blue-haired woman who farted on him at the doctor's waiting room, and imagining gases becoming colorfully visible ; being jealous of a couple who is dancing in front of him ; complaining of a person talking on the phone while the train is stopped, and contemplating the beauty of an hare ; a description of life under an igloo as to enter this collection of poems... A feeling of p...

I truly enjoyed the simplicity of his poetry. So often it is the language that gets me, odd juxtapositions and such, but this time it was the topics: ice, farts, zoos. Each one leads to a larger - but not farfetched - revelation about humanity.

well written but not my cup of tea.

Veers wildly between astonishingly precise, almost surgical description and a mind-boggling, why-would-anyone-think-this-is -publishable degree of navel-gazing white-dude solipsism.

A stunning collection that absolutely stopped me in my tracks. It's only 40 poems over the course of 60 something pages, so I expected it to be an afternoon read, but instead it took 3 days. Obviously poetry is subjective, but no poet has spoken to me more directly than Williams, as a writer and as a human. His style, with long jagged lines and sense of what I once saw described as "moral urgency", creates a structure in which so many things can be unapologetically explored. Williams is perhaps

This collection of poetry won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2000. Unlike a recent collection of poems I read by another poet, I understood these poems and they in fact, resonated with me.My favourite was a poem dedicated to his grandson, a poem called Owen: Seven Days. For me this poem captures the unique love and feelings a grandparent has for a grandchild, something I have been fortunate to experience. The ending of the poem just brought me to tears:"then his eyelidsstart to fluttertime to

I don't give out FIVE STARS a lot - and particularly not for poetry. But this was a WOW book for me. I am a late comer to poetry, so I wasn't surprised that I had not heard of C. K. Williams. But, I knew that this book had won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2000. So, I thought I would try it. I LOVED IT. If you only read one poem in the book - "King" - you will thank me for turning you on to this lovely experience.

well written, but not my favorite collection I've ever read. the moments described were, imagery wise, well put together & I could really appreciate that as I read.

the content of this work is very impressive is a great book

Maybe because I have recently finished teaching the book, Night, but the poem, "The Nail," shook me when I read it.

adequate collection of poems. really liked dream, depths, and dirt. pretty much any poems that started with the letter d. even some without

I'm still in love with Williams' long lines (better than his shorter lines) that dare to be breathless when speaking about global crises or the everydayness of love.

Repair by C.K Williams Many of the poems in Repair by C.K Williams came off like prose, lines are consistently long, almost filling the entire page and he uses elaborate descriptions immersing the reader into the story. When Williams’ poems are not long and prosy he uses a slender column of text, and what I found fascinating about his shorter poems was that he always uses strong enjambment. In his shorter lines poems almost each line end with some form of punctuation either a comma or a period....

Repair is proof once again that the Pulitzer Prize committee and I have very different tastes when it comes to poetry. Not that there's anything wrong with that. There are some lovely images and metaphors here, the grandmother with her bar of soap for example in Dirt, that give you a glimpse into the heart of humanity, what it values, what it stands for, and what needs to change. But there's also a lot of navel gazing and ranting without imagery. The fact that one poem is titled "Tantrum" is, I

Tricky one. But I respect it. Williams has this ability to write something that almost feels sappy and instead make it incredibly honest. I don't think he writes autobiographically, but instead writes what life feels like to him. The MLK poem in particular is one hell of a piece of work, though I don't know if it's as successful as I FEEL it is successful, which is a sign he did something very right here. I don't know if I'm going to read more of him right away, but this is a pretty excellent st...

Actual Rating: 10 of 5 thornsStunning. Rich imagery. Careful attention to detail. The delicate, clear, and full language immerses the reader in the poem, lets you explore, slow, and linger in the moment. Every poem makes you think differently about its subject, consider and reconsider, changing your perspective. The poems echo through one another, remnants subtly ghosting through the collection. Beautiful.

I think the best poetry helps you look at something familiar with new eyes, and Williams' poems do that for me. He is a superb craftsman as well:"someone who lives in words, making a world from their music""We engorge our little sorrows""all that carnal scorn""the inwardly armored helmet of thought"Amen.

I had to read this for a class, and I wrote a big essay on the poem "The Cup" and really fell in love with it. The funniest poem (can't think of the name now) is about a sitting in a doctor's waiting room and an old lady farts, and he wishes she wouldn't be embarrassed because he once saw a huge horse bucking and farting so loudly, so by comparison it wasn't that bad, haha

Maybe I'm just not where I need to be yet to properly feel these poems. I liked this collection, but something about it didn't quite come together for me. I'll have to think about it for the next couple of weeks and wait for what returns to me from this book... A tender, so easy to carry along. Stones in the brain. A block of ice. A rabbit who must be my friend if we knew how to speak.

I love CK! But I must say, he's not for everyone, I think. I especially like the poem about looking into his baby grandson's eyes and the baby's brow knitting, knitting as he tries to process what he sees.

Williams writes long lines--so long, they wrap around when they hit the margin. Formalists can have their say about this; I just see mastery that isn't self-conscious. "Archetypes" is a most truthful poem on marriage. Great poems from a contemporary poet who doesn't have to be Billy Collins.

Generally I liked his long lines, but the broken, hyphenated words that often came at the end were distracting. He raises a lot of questions in his poems, which is something I can relate to, yet not what I'm looking for in poetry. I want something less ponderous, more absolute.

The best poem was the title poem. There were some other really good poems. I did enjoy this ok, but over all, it just wasn't for me. Particularly the formatting, the line length bugged me. And some of the subject matter wasn't as concrete as I generally enjoy it.

A balanced, pleasant collection. "King," a longish poem depicting an episode from the Civil Rights era, stands out, as does the poem "Risk." I found that poem posted here.

WHY is this book not on shelves in bookstores?! I honestly didn't think I'd end up giving this book 5 stars and list it as a favorite. I picked this at the library just to fill time, and oh my, I think I need a copy of my own.

I have to wonder why I never heard of this estimable poet before or, if I did, why it didn't register. I found him to be a relentlessly honest poet, one whose insights into the realms of thought and emotion stirred me and changed me. His language and images are vivid and compelling.

This collection by C. K. Williams won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize and was a National Book Award finalist. This is my first exposure to his poetry. I have read his translation of The Bacchae of Euripides twice and greatly admire it.

Great use of language.