{"product_id":"many-hats-9781956285888-new","title":"Many Hats","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs Mike Schneider writes in his poem \"Astrakahn,\" \u003cem\u003etime \u0026amp; space collapse\u003c\/em\u003e in these poems about hats, orienting readers to the anarchic lyricism of his \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMany Hats\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e. For instance, Marge, of TV's \u003cem\u003eThe Simpsons, \u003c\/em\u003e coexists with Francisco Goya, Ukraine's Orange Revolution, Bolshevik terror and the poem's namesake lamb's-fur hat. The poems, each titled for a style of hat, bring widely diverse people and things together in a linguistic space bounded only by imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith an epigraph from Max Ernst's 1920 collage, \"The Hat Makes the Man,\" Schneider invokes the dada-esque spirit of European artists and writers a century ago. Each hat-from \"Fedora\" to \"Tuque\"-triggers a round of lexical play, touching many pages of western culture along the way. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStylistically, unlike much contemporary American poetry, these \"hats\" rely almost not-at-all on \"confessional\" narrative. The autobiographical \"I\" seldom speaks. \"Exuberance is beauty,\" declared William Blake. Drawing from pop culture, including movies, novels and cartoons, Schneider injects-as he says in \"Stovepipe\" -a dose of exuberance into the body of the world. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e----- Early Praise -----\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Mike Schneider's new collection, \u003cem\u003eMany Hats\u003c\/em\u003e, moments of sharp self-interrogation break through the surface of playful, pop-culture-saturated poems titled for a variety of different hats. Schneider is quick-witted, and his deft handling of language heightens the poems' music. Surveying the role the titular hats play in twentieth-century cinema, he highlights the relationship between whimsy and contemplation. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Speer Morgan, editor, \u003cem\u003eThe Missouri Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith Mike Schneider's brandishment of hats, I've taken my fine time to see how each one fits. I recommend them-an education in headwear that's also an exercise in serious poetry-play. Original, entertaining, informative, memorable-joyfully creative, what else would we want a collection of poems to be? To Schneider and these poems, I take my hat off. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Jeff Worley, Kentucky Poet Laureate (2019-2020)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"POETRY BOX","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":51545236177186,"sku":"9781956285888-new","price":14.37,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0893\/4755\/5618\/files\/9781956285888.jpg?v=1776419798","url":"https:\/\/www.albakireads.com\/products\/many-hats-9781956285888-new","provider":"AlbakiReads","version":"1.0","type":"link"}