2014 Reading: Egghead

I know it's been a while and I just want to point out that while this may be the 7th book I've finished this year, it's actually the 10th book I've started. I'm still in the middle of #9 and will hopefully have that done soon.

I was so excited to get this after seeing Bo Burnham's comedy special "what." that I literally tore through Egghead in about an hour (it's a book of poetry so it wasn't that difficult).  His sense of humor is very similar, if not more dark, than mine, but he also tacks on strong emotions near the end that kind of make your eyes water when you read them, like "I Fuck Sluts" (actual poem in the book) or "The Light":

When I die, I hope I don't see a bright light.

Those give me headaches.

After a long life, I don't want to stare into the sun.

I want a calm blackness--

the same shade that coats the back of my eyelids. 

("The Light" from Egghead)

And then you get to things like "Dog's Poem" or "Donald" or "No to Drugs" and just go right back to laughing (or snorting, however you choose to express hilarity) until the next one comes along.

The illustrations in the book (done by Chance Bone) are reminiscent of the illustrations in Shel Silverstein books from when I was a kid, some can be cute and funny while others are just disturbing. They fit with the poems most of the time, but I have to admit being a little confused by some of them.  I realize now that some of them may have just been chosen as space fillers, but at the time of reading, it kind of took me out of place as I was trying to immerse myself (and doesn't THAT sound fancy?).

It's a pretty thick book and it makes me wonder how long he's been collecting these particular gems because though most of them are not THAT long, the book is chock full of poems (even after the epilogue, he still squeezes one more in there). Were these years and years worth of work and editing or is he the kind of guy that can do this in an hour and still be a genius?

I could probably go on some more and name off more of my favorites, but that might take up more time than I'm willing to allow for such things. I got stuff to do, you know? (Like watch 'The Following' and cry at my continued unemployment). Important stuff.

I will however leave you with this poem which, for some reason, made me pause significantly longer than the others while I was reading because, and like I said, I don't know why, but it spoke to me on an emotional level.

They say adults have no imagination. Not true.

Just instead of dinosaurs and spaceships, they imagine 

silence and the new babysitter bent over the coffee table. 

("Imagination" from Egghead)