Actual Air

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While such poems can seem as performance-oriented as a Spalding Gray monologue, Berman anticipates the criticism in ""Cassette County"" which ends with the compound koan ""anti-showmanship, anti-showmanship, anti-showmanship.

Here, one might accuse Berman of trafficking in overused tropes: the depressed artist scribbling in the margins of books, thinking of some sort of music or anchor in the arts to ballast themselves with. I do know that many lines here are etched deeply in my soul, and I've given away at least three copies of this book. The older brother, meantime, has gone on to thinking about other things, but prompted by his brother's queries, he elaborates on the story even more. These poems are like Berman's songs in most ways: some are killers, some are sleepers, some are neither here nor there.Other effective elements of "Snow"-- its clear sense of unity and direction-- seem lacking in many of the other poems, often leaving me floundering and annoyed.

in times of crisis i carry around books of poetry the way that some people carry around religious texts, reading and re-reading familiar poems like prayers. These poems fascinate me; they superficially resemble a whole host of Dylanesque "throw together a bunch of unrelated images and see what sticks" poetry that does nothing at all for me, but somehow there's something different here. The book was originally published on paperback in 1999 by Open City; Drag City printed its first hardcover copies in 2003. Over and over again his music and poetry made meaning for me and comforted me and made me laugh and made me sad and made me look at the objects and people and situations of this world in a new light. Avoided this for a long time because I assumed these were gussied up variations of David Berman's lyrics for The Silver Jews.Actual Air is a book of poetry written by David Berman and published by Open City Books in July 1999. This was an absolutely wonderful and enriching read, and I implore everyone to spend some time with Berman's work. I think there’s a sort of (potentially stereotype-like, though not to me) concept of what the working-class life might seem like in terms of day-to-day details at home with “appliance failures on Olive Street” and “the complex Italians versus the basic Italians”.

Do yourself a massive favor and introduce yourself to them, they always give a kind, firm handshake and smile to your soul. What Berman always pulled off exceptionally well is to place the dark lyrics into an upbeat song (listen to the first few tracks of Purple Mountains for a perfect example) and so often we find those who manage to appear upbeat are also hurting inside.

with eyes trained on beauty and transcendence," producing "a lush and poignant portrait of "the view from falling behind.

obviously a lyricist such as Berman is really a poet and obviously he has more to say on the subject of America, addiction, aging, and 5:30 pm. Robert Bingham, founder and then-editor of the New York literary magazine Open City had already published a few of Berman's poems. To list or quote favorite lines would be pointless, because I see now it was indeed his body of work that meant so much and was so special to me. It is playful yet heartfelt at all times and embodies a modern generation by etching a detailed portrait out of prose alone. has been a dark year, and hearing lines like "I spent a decade playing chicken with oblivion" can be a comfort when you finally feel understood.I came to this collection shamefully late, especially considering the more than a decade under the influence of his music in Silver Jews, of which David Berman is the frontman along with members of the band Pavement (including the always amazing Stephen Malkmus and on a few Bonnie 'Prince' Billy tracks). The ones that are neither here nor there are flooded by the stop/start fuckbrilliance of the others. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Sometimes Berman so singularly wrangles English into uncanny, dream-logic revelation it gives me goddamn chills.