Even though Mapplethorpe is better known for his controversial black and white nude photos, this book demonstrates his careful delicacy with not only the flowers but also the controlled lighting and the subtle colors. I have loved this book since the first time I leafed through it in studio photo class.

Unbelivable intensity out of such simplicity. Here is Mapplethorpe's ultimate genius, astoundingly powerful from such simple set-ups. The colour, composition, lighting, choice of vases and flowers: All the basics but brilliantly done.
I saw Mapplethorpe's famous exhibition in Philadelphia just before he died,the exhibit that was banned at the Corcoran in D.C., then siezed for a while in Cincinnati. The flower photographs were dye-transfer prints, which made the colour surprisingly intense; some were almost 3' tall. People would stand for a long time in front of those, enraptured, sensing the work on several different levels at once. This book does a good job of bringing that to you. You can look at this book over and over again, put in on a coffe table to start converstaions or, after having not seen it for a while, rediscover it to be awed and inspired anew once again.
The edition I have is a 1990 paperback 12" in height; the pictures are presented one to a spread, so that there is a blank white page accross from the flower, which is a very classy touch, completely the correct way to do it.

This book deserves more than five stars. It is the finest set of flower photography that I have seen before, and presents more dimensions of what a flower can mean that I would have thought possible.

I took a course of creativity from author Dan Wakefield a number of years ago. One of the many excellent exercises we did was to take a flower and write as much as we could about what we observed during an hour. At the end of the time, I was bursting with new ideas for all kinds of things. Try it sometime!

Seeing this marvelous book by Robert Mapplethorpe (that would earn a G rating if it were a motion picture) reminded me of that exercise. I had the same feeling as I examined each image, and had a great desire to start taking notes.

The essay, A Final Flower, by Patti Smith helps put these great works in perspective. Mr. Mapplethorpe found it "as easy to hurl beauty as anything else." "He came, in time, to embrace the flower as the embodiment of all the contradictions reveling within [him]." He was inspired by "their sleekness, their fullness, Humble narcissus, Passionate zen." As such, he found flowers to be "worthy conspirators in the courting and development of conflicting emotions."

The images themselves evoke more complicated views than any others of flowers that I have seen. The closest to his style is that which Georgia O'Keeffe used in her painings. But there are more dimensions to these photographs.

For example, a single flower may evoke a part of a human body, but it will also stimulate an impression of a human emotion contained in the flower image separate from the body part. Further, the shadowed background behind the flower will add movement and context that greatly expand the meaning of the overall image. Mr. Mapplethorpe also displays a genius for using varieties of color together to express complicated rhythms that make looking at the images a lot like listening to a drum beating a distinctive tattoo. He also employs juxtaposition (to make one thing appear to be part of something else), allusions to emerging and receding, and contrasts to great effect.

The technical quality of the images is superb. The lighting, detail, and composition of each image are precisely as must have been intended. Each image is an exquisite gem. Although I liked all of the images, some appealed to me more than others. Here are my favorites:

Irises, 1988; Rose, 1989; Orchid, 1977; White Longstem Flower, 1982; Orchids, 1982; Orchid, 1986; Flowers in a Vase, 1985; Orchids, 1987; and Poppy, 1988 (second one). I would like to specially praise the astonishing Calla Lilies (1985-1988) for their amazing beauty and inspiring qualities.

Where else can something simple display so much important meaning and complexity about nature and the viewer? I suggest that you consider looking at leaves, rocks, and feathers as possible additional sources of inspiration. Try your hand at arranging tableaux that use the vocabulary of Mr. Mapplethorpe's work here.

May your heart and mind be suffused with the wonders around you . . . creating a meditation inspired by nature!

I love to read in the same way that some people love eating chocolates. Just as they disregard warnings as to caloric intake in making their selections and opt for the largest, darkest,or prettiest piece in the box, so, too, I disregard the admonition not to judge a book by its cover and often select a book by its size, heft, and cover. Guilty Pleasures meets all of my superficial criteria: it has a pleasing fit to the hand, a weight perfect for horizontally-inclined literati such as I, and an eye-catching cover filled with colorful shoes such that one's eye is drawn to the authorship on the suspicion (unfounded) that this is Immelda Marcos' work. Of course, as my chocoholic friends might say, "the proof is in the pudding" and the quality of a book is in the reading. Just as a square of fudge delights as it melts and clings to the palate, Guilty Pleasures delights the mind. Eight women writers unrepentantly share the joys they find in ordinary and not so ordinary pleasures running a quixotic gamut from taking antidepressants to applying toenail polish, from crossword fanaticism to extorting money from one's parents. The writing is refreshingly witty, wicked, and wise. Although these small gems of essays are assembled of necessity in an order, I recommend reading them haphazardly. After all, what chocolate lover would adhere to the map on the candy box, eating all the creams first before proceeding to the nuts? There are enough strictures in life! Just open the book and enjoy at random. And, yes, the next time you need to tote a small gift somewhere, you might forego the candy and bring along a copy of Guilty Pleasures. Think of it as a book lover's fudge!

These authors have tapped into a huge vein (keg?) of human experience. Each essay details a different furtive joy, and I could feel their pleasure even in the ones I couldn't identify with myself.
There are no morals given; no helpfull hints; just honest enjoyment of many things that may not fit our public personas or enhance our professional images. Before I even finished the book, I found myself mentally starting to examine my own guilty pleasures. It's so nice to know that I'm not alone in admitting that I do get a thrill out of a few somewhat dubious activities.
My daughter keeps dipping into this book, too. Obviously, it's appeal is multi-generational.

All the confessions in this book are deliciously guilty and are expressed in the picturesque language of poets and the best of literary writers.

Perhaps the man who along with Allan Ginsberg altered the way poetry was written and percieved. This is by far his most eclectic collection, featuring the masterful BOMB (perhaps the ultimate epithath for the 20th century) and the brilliant and moving MARRIAGE, POWER, CLOWN and POLICE more of the contents that show what a clever witty deep commentator Corso is. Poems you can mull ove? Definatly! Poems you can analyse? Undoubtable! But here is a collection you can read again and again and enjoy again and again.

Gregory Corso must have been sitting in an empty room, with nothing more to think of than the emotions controlling his mind. In this book of poetry, the reader will gain a new appreciation for his work. The Happy Birthday of Death is one of the most powerful, and intense collections of writing available.

I recomend this book to everyone.it is funny,intellegent,and thrifting

This is an excellent anthology of French poetry starting
with the work of Gerard de Nerval (1808-1855)and going
through Paul Valery (1871-1945). The book is in two major
sections: pp. 3-185 contain the English translations
of the French poems (each poet has a section of poems--
and the poets are presented in chronological order of
their birth years); and pp. 289-443 present the same
poems in the same order, but in French).
There is a very good Table of Contents which tells
the titles of the poems and the name and date of
the published edition from which the poem comes, or
the date of the individual poem itself. In the back
of the volume there is an exceptionally good Bibliography
with both General citations, as well as specific essays
on the particular poets. Each poet also has listed
the best edition of his works in that Bibliography.
The poets presented in this anthology along with
very good selections from their poems (and short
biographies) are: Gerard de Nerval; Charles Baudelaire;
Tristan Corbiere; Paul Verlaine; Arthur Rimbaud;
Stephane Mallarme; Jules Laforgue; Guillaume Apollinaire;
and Paul Valery.
The English translations are by various people, some
famous by name, others not so well known to the general
reader. Apparently...not surprisingly...the more
provocative and interesting the poet and his poems,
the more variety of translators and the more engaged
le traducteur et la traductrice travaillent.
My own personal favorites from this anthology are
the poems of De Nerval, Mallarme, and Valery. Here
is a bit of Mallarme's "Weary of Bitter Ease..."
["Las de l'amer repos..."]:
* * * * * * * * *
And by my lamp which knows my agony at last,
Would imitate the Chinese of limpid, delicate bent,
Whose purest ecstasy is but to paint the end
Upon his cups of snow new ravished from the moon
Of some exotic flower that constantly perfumed
His life, transparent flower he smelled in infancy,
Grafting itself upon the soul's blue filigree.
-- Stephane Mallarme. [Trans. Hubert Creekmore]
________________________________________

Frankly speaking, I was not very familiar with French poetry till I bought a copy of this book recently in Paris. This book, which was last published in 1958, has been out of print till now. In fact, book was in the wish list from my brother who is a professor onf English in India and who read a copy of this anthology long time ago. According to him, it was the best anthology of French poetry he had ever read. After reading some of the poems, I not only discovered the beauty of French poetry, but also could understand why my brother has been after this book for a long time. Patty Smith, who wrote the introduction to the new publication of the anthology, like my brother, read this book long time ago when she got a copy of the book on her table by stroke of luck in 1964. She now writes, "I must admit that I pocketed the book as my own, and it bacame the bible of my life. Edited by the aptly name Angel Flores, this anthology introduced me to some of the greatest poets in French literature .... It is my pleasure now to reintroduce this humble yet significant volume, so long out of print, to you now. And may I use this as an opportunity to salute and thank that unidentified soul who left this book upon my table in 1964."

French poetry has influenced not only people like Patty Smith or by brother in India and many throughout the world, but it has also influenced famous poets like T. S. eliot and many others. I am very happy to see that this valuable anthology of French poetry has now been published again. Besides my brother, I am also happy for me who is not deep into literature for living, because it has introduced to me the beauty of French poetry for the first time. When you read poets like Baudellaire in lines as follows, you can immediately see that attraction of French poetry.

"Be drunk, always. Nothing else matters; this is our sole concern. To ease the pain as Time's dread burden weighs down upon your shoulders and crushes you to eart, you must be drunk without respite.

Drunk with what? With wine, with poetry or with virtue, as yopu please. But be drunk." (Baudellaire "Be Drunk")

Or in," Life is hospital where every patient longs desperately to change his bed. ..." (Baudellaire "Anyehere Out of this World") etc

The anthology contain not only famous poets like Baudellaire, but all the important modern French poets from Nerval to Valery. Now I know that like French wine the book has addicted me with French poetry. I think everyone who like poetry should have a copy of this valuable anthology of French poetry in his or her personal collection. Rajen Barua, Houston

It fits in the palm of your hand and unfolds mysterious narrative & lyric threads interspersed with black & white photos, some taken by the author's sister. A must for the die-hard-dyed-in-the wool Patti fan.

JUST ANOTHER MASTERED PIECE ABOUT THE PUNK GREAT ( PATTI SMITH )
ANYTHING ABOUT THIS BRILLIANTLY TALENTED WOMAN IS AN ART FORM OF IT'S OWN. I REMEMBER WHEN ( BECAUSE THE NIGHT CAME OUT, I WAS
A TEENAGER IN HIGH SCHOOL. MY FIRST IMPRESSION WAS I WANNA BE JUST LIKE HER. SHE IS ONE MUSICIAN OF POETRY, WHO IS ACTUALLY,
THE SAME AS HER MUSIC. WHAT CAN I SAY SHE HAS GIVEN ME THE PLEASURE OF HER TALENTED MUSIC FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS.
THIS BOOK IS DEFINATELY A CLASSIC IN ITSELF.
"PATTI" THE WOMAN,THE POET,THE CLASSIC MUSICIAN.

Through the years I have always been frustrated by the lack of a lyric sheet with Patti Smith's albums. I thought her marriage of poetry and rock deserved better. And there were many parts of her songs that I just couldn't make out, what with her broad NY drawl, so this book came as a godsend. And yes, I was invariably wrong in my guessing! So to the book: excellent photographs, insightful annotations and those wonderful songs that work equally well on the printed page but really come alive with her music. Excellent design, typography, layout; highly recommended.

thanks patti. love the book. everyone should have one.

This slim volume is sprinkled with photographs primarily by Robert Mapplethorpe. They are well chosen to grace the poetic prose elegy by Patti Smith. The prose reminds me in a strange way of the writings of H.D. - the story of facing death is told in mythic terms - in terms of the sea, the search for the Hercules moth, the sighting of the Southern Cross as his uncle had promised, of Greek gods. Its strength is in the description of Mapplethrope as artist - fascinated by arranging, estranged from nature. The writing is not without flaws but it is interesting and telling.

What a wonderful book. Patti Smith's poetry is full with an intense personal feeling. I can only echo the comments of previous reviewers; this book shines a bright and pellucid beauty, both in its poetry and in the sublime photographs. Spending an afternoon with The Coral Sea took me into a serene, meditative, dreamy state. It has that quality. Something of it reminded me of Visconti's film, Death in Venice. This is a book I shall always have.

Patti Smith his come aways since HORSES. Or maybe not very far at all. Lurking beneath the poet/punk of the famous mapplethorp cover was a woman of profoundly mystical bent. In this, a fable and an elegy , for Robert as she writes in the dedication, Patti smith imagines a man searching for the southern cross, and a man dying. Each of the very short capters are accompanied by a mapplethorpe photograph. Profound, wrenching prose, which caused me to wince in pain and recognition, and ultimately, which delivers a coda to a life. This is amazing stuff, the kind of book that should be passed to loved ones wrapped in a ribbon of silk,, cherished as a gift. It is that good. It moved me like few books have in my life.Nothing in Patti smiths work had prepared me for the overwhelming beauty of this book. A staggering book of wonder.

the subject of this collection of poems. Gregory Corso, Beatnik poet extroardinaire, writes about the glory of being a (hu-)man, Alive, here, in the moment... These poems span a period of traveling for Corso, with sections about his journeys in Greece, Tangiers, and other parts of Europe as well as poems about New York. If you've never read anything by Gregory Corso, this is a good place to start. He creates phrases and passages that stick in your mind at once; this book of poetry needs to be read, and re-read, then read again.

Corso's probably the most criminally underrated poet I can think of, especially considering how much today's teenagers hold the rest of the Beats(a label that made Corso a bit uncomfortable), Kerouac and Ginsberg especially, in awe. Oh well, genius is usually ignored or misunderstood. His style, ranging from the purest of aphorism to the wildest celebration of language's infinite flexibility(he even breaks it a few times!) is never forced; it only serves to inundate the reader with the power of one of the last Romantic souls. A study in contradictions--terse yet lyrical, death-obsessed yet wildly hopeful, grittily simple yet bathed in references-- Corso was a true unique.

Long Live Man is the book that, along with Happy Birthday of Death, ties for best claim to being the man's masterpiece. Written over a series of years of travel, from Greece to Tangiers to Paris to the rest of Europe to New York, this collection chronicles his emotional trials and triumphs from monument to monument, little town to little town, acquaintance to acquaintance. Throughout this time of physical uprooting, Corso is going through a great deal of emotional turmoil. The omnipresence of death and the sense that everything will come to naught press down upon him, but he fights back with that all-consuming love of life that even outdoes the "Carpe Diem" poems of the Roman Horace for sheer vivacity. He flings image after image, experience after experience after experience, at Death, God, Love, Despair, (hu)Man(ity), and ends up with a celebration of all that is worthwhile in life, set against the chilly background of impermanence and death. He binds all of that to his alternately aphoristic and linguistically wild style to make art that will last forever in the reader's mind. There are parts that I can't help but quote all the time when I want to say something profound. Truly, a wonder. Ps: there are a few lines in "Greece" that _will_, if I have any say in the matter, be my epitaph(page 25, the train of thought starting with "Life, I love you..."). Why does NOBODY remember this guy?!

The Arena was built in 1929 for dairy cows, and it was in that building that the first power play in the history of the NHL happened in 1934.My grandmother could tell you about my cousin,Larry Finch, who played against mighty UCLA in 1973,for Memphis State. It was also where Penny Hardaway hit one of the most dramatic shots in Memphis State history in 1992. I cried when the place was imploded, because my friend , Kevin Holowchik, is a Blues fan and he was born there in St.Louis. You can tear the building down,but you cannot tear down the memories.

This book is a great coffee table item...I have been a Blues fan since 1986, that's right, the Monday Night Miracle. I loved the building. I played an inline hockey game with friends before a Vipers game as a promotion for the rink we played at locally. Just being behind the scenes in a "locker room" was amazing. I received this book for Christmas and read it before noon Christmas Day. I found the pictures and stories great, but it certainly lacked real information. I was very interested in the design of the building, the architechure, and stories about the tunnels and hidden walkways that this book hints at, but never dives into telling you. How about a volume two???

In the 1940s I can recall walking from our house on Cates, down DeBaliviere, through Forest Park and seeing that magnificant structure, The Arena. It featured a sign, "The Arena - Where the Big Events are held" along with the BAA Basketball sign for the Bombers and the AHL sign for the Flyers. Patti Smith Jackson's book, resplendith with photographs, allows those affectionados of this marvelous structure to keep memories such as this by putting her work in your hands whilst the building itself is now gone. Being over 65 I would have enjoyed more information about the earlier tennents of the building such as the Flyers of the American Hockey Association from 1928 to 1942 and then in the American Hockey League from 1944 to 1953. I can remember Neil Norman announcing the last period of the games starting at 9:45 PM on WIL in the 40s and Harry Caray doing same in the 50s. I would have liked more info on Tom Pack's wrestling matches at the Arena. I would have liked more information on the Bombers basketball team that started in the Basketball Association of America in 1946 and were one of the teams in the first season of the National Basketball Association in the 1949-50 season before folding. What I found missing in the Arena book was any mention of the Wirtz's moving some of the Chicago Blackhawks games to the Arena in 1953/54 to test the St. Louis market. It allowed a lot of us to see the greats, Gordie Howe, Maurice "Rocket" Richard, terrible Ted Lindsay. Also they had little coverage about the Bombers BAA/NBA team. Attendance was so bad that last season and I remember going to basketball doubleheaders with my Dad in the 49-50 season where he paid $1.25 for general admission and I got a ticket for a penny (on penny nights). Also after the Bombers folded after their first season, 49-50, the New York Knickerbockers wanted ex-St. Louis University star Easy Ed Macauley so badly that they offered to purchase the entire Bombers team but the NBA put the nix to that and Easy Ed went to the Boston Celtics instead. Harry broadcast the last half of the Bombers games on WIL also. But then it is really interesting how the folks responsible for the Big Events kept it all together with scotch tape and glue. This book is a MUST for anyone who loved the Arena and certainly will help the memories live on!

Just a collection of thoughts: The original photographs are phenomenal, about 8 feet by 8 feet square. They truly should be exhibited along with the huge landscapes of David Parker, about 12 feet by four feet, which also feature natural arches in the landscape. Lynn Davis' original prints are subdued and of grade one or grade two contrast. (I'd prefer printing on grade three paper.) Lynn Davis has been doing icebergs for a long, long time. I notice that one of her iceberg photos, a color print from 1986, appears in the catalogue "The Indomitable Spirit" published by Friends United Against AIDS. What is missing from the book being reviewed is her most interesting recent landscape print, which can be seen on the card from the November 2001 exhibition at the John Berggruen Gallery. The print on the card is of a dramatic grade 3 contrast. This exciting print features an iceberg in the top left quadrant, with a dramatic inverted arch on the top surface of the ice, a nice reflection of the iceberg in the water appearing between the berg and the viewer, a thin horizon line consisting of a distant ice cliff, and in the sky, an archlike shape in the gentle cloudcover that roughly duplicates (or continues) the arch "scooped out" from the top of the berg. How excited the photographer must have been when she made the exposure. Too bad this print isn't in the book. Too bad the prints in the book are of low contrast. It is interesting that David Parker's book, "The Phenomenal World," also omits the most exciting image from David Parker's exhibition (from the Robert Koch Gallery), i.e., an arch extending from a cliff and into the ocean, with a tiny human figure standing under the arch. Both Lynn Davis' and David Parker's books would go well together, side-by-side on your art book shelf, if only as a reminder to go and see the original prints when they are on exhibit at a nearby art gallery.

Photographer Lynn Davis is one of the best living artists working today. Lynn has an amazingly rich quality in her work which is often simple in format. A purist's take on architectural, monumental sites, and natural wonders. Her subject moves from nature to the sacred, as her travels have taken her to places such as Greenland, Africa, Cambodia, etc. This book is a most suitable document for a very important contemporary photographer.

Lynn Davis does a wonderful job with her book. I have also had the pleasure to view her work in life, and it is wonderful. I would say that Lynn Davis has an obsession with form. The shape of the monuments seem more important than the monument itself. When I look at some of her pyramids, I forget that what I am looking at is a pyramid as wonder about the forms and shapes in the photograph. I think some of her work has a minimal quality to it and others have very interesting compositions. One of my favorites: "Red Pyramid, Dashur, Cairo, Egypt."