by William Abbott<\/p>\n
Kim Addonizio has released Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writer’s Life <\/em>(2016, Penguin), a book of essays about herself and writing. From the first essay, where she picks up a man at the hotel bar and takes him back to her room, which she is sharing with another writer, this collection is a sharp and funny look at life as a poet and a writer.<\/p>\n Addonizio, who\u00a0has become well\u00a0known for Ordinary Genius <\/em>and The Poet\u2019s Companion <\/em>(written with Dorianne Laux), has released this series of essays as \u201cConfessions from a Writing Life.\u201d Some of these essays are craft essays (\u201cHow to Succeed in Po Biz,\u201d \u201cDOA,\u201d \u201cThe Process,\u201d \u201cWhat Writers Do All Day,\u201d \u201cHow I Write,\u201d and others), with varying degrees of advice. This is fine, of course, as this isn\u2019t an advice book (cf. Ordinary Genius<\/em> in particular). But it is a mirror, showing her reflection on how writers can waste time, or how they can be insecure about their work.<\/p>\n Some of her more personal essays also show how she works her life into her writing. It also shows a very real, very human person who has to care for her elderly mother (\u201cFlu Shot\u201d and \u201cSpace\u201d), avoids her dysfunctional brother lest he try to take advantage of her financially (\u201cSimple Christian Charity\u201d), worries about screwing up her daughter (\u201cAll Manner of Obscene Things\u201d), looks for love and sex (\u201cPenis by Penis,\u201d \u201cHow to Fall for a Younger Man,\u201d and more), and enjoys her alcohol (\u201cCocktail Time\u201d).<\/p>\n Through it all, Addonizio\u00a0employs a witty, sarcastic style that gives you plenty of reason to like her. \u201cMany are they,\u201d she wrote, \u201cwho harbor the burning desire to become successful poets and rise to the top of their profession. To see one\u2019s name on the cover of a slender paperback, to have tens and perhaps even dozens of readers, to ascend to a lecture podium in a modest-size auditorium after being introduced by the less successful poet, who is unsure of the pronunciation of your name \u2013 these are heady rewards.\u201d<\/p>\n Her writing about writing is especially engaging to other writers. \u201cI write crap, shit, clich\u00e9s, whiny complaints, black speculations, goofy formulations, and give up. I go back and write, \u2018nada nada nada I suck why can\u2019t I write anything,\u2019 and give up again. I write something I like, and the next day I realize it\u2019s shit.\u201d We\u2019ve all been there. Like, daily.<\/p>\n The essays on being a writer and on how to write are the most interesting to me, and likely to most writers. The book talks about the stress, the distractions, the chaos of the writer\u2019s life. It talks about how research can turn into the rabbit hole that distracts you from writing. It talks about how writers mine their real lives for more writing material, and the essays demonstrate the truth\u00a0of that statement.<\/p>\n The exploits with men are entertaining. The family stories are heartfelt. The alcohol runs throughout the essays. You\u2019re pretty certain she\u2019s being truthful with you, but if she isn\u2019t, she\u2019ll probably write an essay someday that tells where she lied, as she did in \u201cPants on Fire,\u201d where she breaks down how she embellished stories in some of her poems, line by line. Her eye toward craft doesn\u2019t blink often, and the reader is likely to enjoy her insights, laced as they are throughout the whole work.<\/p>\n The title of the book, according to the author in the eponymous essay, comes from a negative comparison of her from a judge for a book award, and after having read this book, I\u2019d suggest it was 25% Bukowski, 75% sundress. Just the balance I was hoping for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by William Abbott Kim Addonizio has released Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions from a Writer’s Life (2016, Penguin), a book of essays about herself and writing. From the first essay, where she picks up a man at the hotel bar and takes him back to her room, which she is sharing with another writer, this … <\/p>\n