Topic 6: Preposterous: Poems of Youth, selected by Paul Janezcko

Janeczko, Paul B. 1991. Preposterous: Poems of Youth. New York: Orchard Books. ISBN: 0531059014.

The poems in PREPOSTEROUS: POEMS OF YOUTH were selected by Paul Janeczko and include poems by people some young adults might know, such as Langston Hughes, Gary Soto or Robert Penn Warren, but the majority are not as well known. The poems are arranged more or less thematically, though sections are not labeled as being on one topic or another. The poems, though written by adults, express emotions and views held by many teens as they grow up. Most of the poems are written without rhyme, in a free verse style that reads as most people speak. “More than half of the over one hundred poems reflect a male point of view, perhaps indicating special appeal to older boys who often feel that poetry has little to offer them.” (Fader.)

Janeszko chose to title the book PREPOSTEROUS from one of the poems, written by Jim Hall about a boy dreaming that a girl with a “the Best….” list would list him under something besides, “Wittiest.”(Hall, 21.) Perhaps his thought was that someone, particularly an adult would find the poems and experiences they express to be preposterous. One poem, “Sister” by H. R. Coursen, attempts to capture the author’s experience being the only girl in a house of brothers, “Younger than they, / and not the same. / Girl growing amid/ a grove of brothers. / They took my dolls/ one day into their/ forbidden circle/ in the woods, / drove sticks/ into the cleared dirt, / and burned them/ at the stake.” (Coursen, 36.)For at least one reviewer, this calls to mind a certain younger brother.

The poems fit together as teenagers do in a school, some clashing and colliding as they try to find their own space, while others hang alone and separate on the page. Janezcko selected poems that require the reader to think about their own experiences and how they relate to the experiences of the poets, which is something that a good poem will do. The poems evoke the runaway emotions of young adulthood and the issues, like death, sex, love and despair, teenagers experience as they strive to adulthood. The result is a book that truly does seem preposterous in its attempt to capture a multitude of voices expressing their experiences as young adults and yet it pulls off the capture in a magnificent way.


Reference Lst:

Fader, Ellen. 1991. Review of Preposterous: Poems of Youth selected by Paul Janezcko. Horn Book Magazine, Vol. 67 Issue 4 (Jul/Aug), 471.

Hall, Jim. 1986. “Preposterous.” In Preposterous: Poems of Youth, selected by Paul Janezcko. New York: Orchard Books, 21.

Coursen, H. R. 1986. “Sister.” In Preposterous: Poems of Youth, selected by Paul Janezcko. New York: Orchard Books. 36.