Rhapsodies of a Repeat Offender

by Wayne Koestenbaum

The collection's cornerstones are two rhapsodies - long poems which combine the richness of a novel, the intimacy of a lyric, and the immediacy of a performance. At the climax of the first, the poet meets his double, a dying boy whose shameful moniker is "Baldie." As if in response to this explosive confrontation, the poet dares to write a second, wilder "Rhapsody" - a confessional, improvisatory fantasia, virtually a book in itself, where abjection blossoms into formally-innovative extravagance. Three sequences complete the collection: "Piano Life," a series of haunted meditations on music and mortality; "Erotic Collectibles," a disarmingly unsentimental account of sexual awakening; and "Star Vehicles," in which the poet sees his perplexities reflected in Bette Davis, Sophia Loren, Ida Lupino, and other leading ladies.

Genres: Poetry

120 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Wayne Koestenbaum has published five books of critical prose, including The Queen’s Throat: Opera, Homosexuality, and the Mystery of Desire, which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist; and three books of poetry, including Ode to Anna Moffo and Other Poems. He is a Professor of English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Reviews

[Robert Costic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of it feels like stream of consciousness, automatic writing. It would be tiring except that I like the same things Koestenbaum does and am happy to read his ramblings about them, particularly the pervy stuff. There aren’t enough openly pervy writers of quality.

[Worms_and_Words · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not structured poems, it wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t fantastic either.

[Jeremy]

there's a long one towards the back. verdict is still out. i like the vignettes about sex.