Only Butterick and Creely could have demonstrated the significance that Charles Olson imparted upon the world of post-modern poetry. For those familiar and unfamiliar with the works of this poet, this collection, although only a mere smattering of the magnitude of Olson, provides an imposing insight to the depth and mastery of modern poetry.

This is one of the most unusual poetry books I've read. The poems Olson published in his lifetime were a fraction of what he wrote. In this volume, editor George Butterick interleafs nearly all the surviving typescripts with the poems from Olson's previously published collections, creating a giant single edition that runs to over 600 pages. On the plus side, you get the chance to discover a new Olson through reading his poems, most published here for the first time, in the order he wrote them. The downside is that the 'historical' Olson, who along with Allen Ginsberg electrified American outsider poetry in the '50s and '60s, tends to get choked off in all the false starts, toss-offs and unfinished fragments that few of his contemporaries ever saw. Since the notes at the end don't give the page numbers of the poems they refer to, it's a hassle to sort out which poems appeared in which collections, if any. Butterick's thirty-year care and feeding of Olson's work has to be one of the greatest editorial romances of all time, and his openness in letting you decide which poems are good or not is democratic. But it also demands a lot of unnecessary work (why not a separate section of unpublished poems?) that might leave you wondering if Olson's worth the effort. Robert Creeley's shorter "Selected Poems" are a better bet if you want a quicker overview, and Butterick's edition of the Maximus poems probably catches Olson at his best. But his risk in presenting Olson like this is true to the spirit of the poetry. An outsized book for an outsized man.

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I was forced to read this dreck for an architecture(?) class. Although I love to read, and so usually approach unknown materials with an open mind, I quickly lost any illusion of interest once the first few pages were read. This "poem" is hard to follow, impossible to translate, boring to read.

Now if I could only find someone to take this book off of my hands.

"In the land of plenty, have
nothing to do with it"

olson was a large man & the maximus poems is some of what he got down on paper.

"he and I seeming
the only ones who know
what we are doing, where
we are going"

it is a big book that requires time and care of attention

it's also a reference, something that can be "dug up" to serve as signs or points. the lyric passages are often very low to the ground

"the forests,
behind, transparent
from the light snow showing
lost rocks and hills
which one doesn't, ordinarily,
know"

Olson's "Maximus" is not for everyone. However, for those brave souls who read poetry, it will prove to be an unforgettable experience. "Maximus" is one of the most expansive American long poems. In its scope, it rivals both "The Cantos" and "A". For those used to the polished verse inhereted from Europe, the journey through "Maximus" will be disorienting at first. But for those readers that are willing to take the leap, "Maximus" will prove to be a rewarding experience that will open new ways of reading and thinking. I suggest you buy it today and spend a few years traveling with Olson and Maximus of Tyre.