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Yesno
A stunning collection of poetry by one of our most beloved and renowned poets, Yesno is a companion volume to the much-praised Un (Anansi, 2003), and continues Dennis Lee's urgent poetic project, which is to grapple with the question of the earth's and humankind's future. But where the earlier book concentrated on the deadly impasse to which we humans have brought the planet, Yesno is lighter and more playful, canvassing the possibility of hope. It explores an ethic of yesno, simultaneously embracing pessimism and hope. In the author's own Before I began Yesno , I thought it would be a pendulum swing from Un , moving from bleakness to hope. But the poems kept misfiring, sounding forced. Eventually, I realized the task was more complex. Namely, to articulate a world in which the demolition derby and the possibility of living more constructively in the natural order are both real. And at once. So, not just no; not just yes; but yesno.
80 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2007
9 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Lee
123 books48 followersDennis Beynon Lee, OC, MA is a Canadian poet and thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He is also a children's writer.
After attending high school at the University of Toronto Schools, Lee received bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the University of Toronto. He is best known for his children's writings; his most famous work is the rhymed Alligator Pie (1974). He also wrote the lyrics to the theme song of the 1980s television show Fraggle Rock and, with Philip Balsam, many of the other songs for that show. Balsam and Lee also wrote the songs for the television special The Tale of the Bunny Picnic. Lee is co-writer of the story for the film Labyrinth.
After attending high school at the University of Toronto Schools, Lee received bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the University of Toronto. He is best known for his children's writings; his most famous work is the rhymed Alligator Pie (1974). He also wrote the lyrics to the theme song of the 1980s television show Fraggle Rock and, with Philip Balsam, many of the other songs for that show. Balsam and Lee also wrote the songs for the television special The Tale of the Bunny Picnic. Lee is co-writer of the story for the film Labyrinth.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 13, 2020
Alligator pie, alligator pie, if I don't get some I think I'm gonna die...
I loved Dennis Lee's poetry when I was a kid. The poetry in Yesno baffles me. I have vague memories of reading this book shortly after it was released and recall my impression being "what-the-fuck-did-I-just-read?" This book was shortlisted for the 2007 Governor General's Award and thankfully didn't win. Yesno is the companion to Lee's earlier collection Un and starts at part six. Part of me is pissed off that this is packaged as only half of a book, but the other part of me is glad that I didn't have to read another sixty pages of garbage.
According to the synopsis, "Yesno continues Dennis Lee's urgent poetic project, grappling with the future of planet earth. . . It explores an ethic of 'yesno,' embracing pessimism and hope simultaneously." Which is a great idea, in theory. In practice, Lee creates poems that are nearly impossible to parse, obfuscating meaning with a non-stop jumble of fragmented ideas and chimera words. Maybe I sound mad because I'm too stupid to "get it," but I don't have any respect for self-indulgent poets who alienate their readers with their oh-so-clever wordplay, especially in this case where the author claims to be taking on an issue as timely and as important as the future of Earth. This poetry is not worthwhile. It reads more like the raving of a madman.
Examples:
Poems that I liked:
0/49 (0%)
I loved Dennis Lee's poetry when I was a kid. The poetry in Yesno baffles me. I have vague memories of reading this book shortly after it was released and recall my impression being "what-the-fuck-did-I-just-read?" This book was shortlisted for the 2007 Governor General's Award and thankfully didn't win. Yesno is the companion to Lee's earlier collection Un and starts at part six. Part of me is pissed off that this is packaged as only half of a book, but the other part of me is glad that I didn't have to read another sixty pages of garbage.
According to the synopsis, "Yesno continues Dennis Lee's urgent poetic project, grappling with the future of planet earth. . . It explores an ethic of 'yesno,' embracing pessimism and hope simultaneously." Which is a great idea, in theory. In practice, Lee creates poems that are nearly impossible to parse, obfuscating meaning with a non-stop jumble of fragmented ideas and chimera words. Maybe I sound mad because I'm too stupid to "get it," but I don't have any respect for self-indulgent poets who alienate their readers with their oh-so-clever wordplay, especially in this case where the author claims to be taking on an issue as timely and as important as the future of Earth. This poetry is not worthwhile. It reads more like the raving of a madman.
Examples:
Blah-blah was easy, we
diddled the scrutable chunks;
whole hog was beyond us.
Bugspace &
chugspace ahead,
welcome wormlandia.
The birds con-
trive a nest. The wolves a lair.
Sheer matricide is rare.
Undernot rising. Bad
OM, the
holes in the wholly.
("blah-" p. 8)
How hew to the
pushpull? How
straddle the twain of what is?
(from "oompah," p. 11)
Earth heres, earth
nows, is there
nothing?
What whats?
Inlisten.
What blickens?
Inner than
polipulse, homer than breathbeat, listen to
isten. To
istence. Listen to inguish. Listen to
is.
("listen," p. 42)
If inly, if only, if
unly: heart-
iculate improv,
sussing the emes of what is.
Nor hunker in losslore, nor
kneejerk abracadaver.
Cripcryptic rejuice! Ec-
statisyllabic largesse —
rekenning, rekeening, re-
meaning our wordly demesne.
("wordly," 58)
Poems that I liked:
0/49 (0%)
January 20, 2022
If it walks like apocalypse. If it
squawks like armageddon.
If stalks the earth like anaphylactic parturition.
If halo jams like septicemic laurels, if
species recuse recuse if mutti clearcut, if
earth remembers how & then for good forgets.
If it glows like neural plague if it grins, if it
walks like apocalypse -
* * *
Still singable
coleoptera. Still ozone
ave, still
redwoods memorious: earth
clamant, earth
keening earth
urnal, earth
gravid with loss.
Fluke
crusoe on boolean
sands, heart-
stopt with elderlore - still
spackled with
plosions of
let-there-be. In-
cipit afterplanet.
* * *
Earth, you almost enough
Hoof-high to excelsis, trilobite
sutra, cordillera jackpot:
into the new of attrition, the
birth of the lopped.
Into biosaudades.
Too fell a fate, green-
gone inheritor;
iotacome donner & ooze - still singing,
Hail to the unextinct,
oomph to the lorn-being-born.
* * *
As stuttle inflex the genomes.
As bounty floundles.
As coldcock amnesia snakes thru
shoreline/sporeland/syngone -
hi diddle
template, unning becomes us,
palimpsest gibber & newly.
I spin the yin stochastic, probble a
engram luff, & parse haw
bareback the whichwake, besoddle a thrashold flux.
* * *
Earth heres, earth
nows, is there
nothing?
What whats?
Inlisten.
What blickens?
Inner than
polipulse, homer than breathbeat, listen to
isten. To
istence. Listen to inguish. Listen to
is.
* * *
Of more the less; of
least, prognostipangs.
Scrabbling for abc.
No heaven, no
beanstalk, bare earth.
Shedding what pyrotech-
tactics?
Threading what speakab/un-
speakable, ekable, seekable
gauntlet of need?
* * *
Mercator cleanup or what?
Toxijam loosened, slum-
praxis goosed;
techmate relievo or what.
Alphas of stricken, bare omega noodlers -
swot to revivify human,
vamping on taptoes of must.
By the law by the lab by the ballot:
sanity sweat.
Lost-ditch endorphins or what.
Hometruth cojones. Or what?
squawks like armageddon.
If stalks the earth like anaphylactic parturition.
If halo jams like septicemic laurels, if
species recuse recuse if mutti clearcut, if
earth remembers how & then for good forgets.
If it glows like neural plague if it grins, if it
walks like apocalypse -
- if, pg. 3
* * *
Still singable
coleoptera. Still ozone
ave, still
redwoods memorious: earth
clamant, earth
keening earth
urnal, earth
gravid with loss.
Fluke
crusoe on boolean
sands, heart-
stopt with elderlore - still
spackled with
plosions of
let-there-be. In-
cipit afterplanet.
- still, pg. 12
* * *
Earth, you almost enough
Hoof-high to excelsis, trilobite
sutra, cordillera jackpot:
into the new of attrition, the
birth of the lopped.
Into biosaudades.
Too fell a fate, green-
gone inheritor;
iotacome donner & ooze - still singing,
Hail to the unextinct,
oomph to the lorn-being-born.
- oomph, pg. 24
* * *
As stuttle inflex the genomes.
As bounty floundles.
As coldcock amnesia snakes thru
shoreline/sporeland/syngone -
hi diddle
template, unning becomes us,
palimpsest gibber & newly.
I spin the yin stochastic, probble a
engram luff, & parse haw
bareback the whichwake, besoddle a thrashold flux.
- flux, pg. 35
* * *
Earth heres, earth
nows, is there
nothing?
What whats?
Inlisten.
What blickens?
Inner than
polipulse, homer than breathbeat, listen to
isten. To
istence. Listen to inguish. Listen to
is.
- listen, pg. 42
* * *
Of more the less; of
least, prognostipangs.
Scrabbling for abc.
No heaven, no
beanstalk, bare earth.
Shedding what pyrotech-
tactics?
Threading what speakab/un-
speakable, ekable, seekable
gauntlet of need?
- abc, pg. 53
* * *
Mercator cleanup or what?
Toxijam loosened, slum-
praxis goosed;
techmate relievo or what.
Alphas of stricken, bare omega noodlers -
swot to revivify human,
vamping on taptoes of must.
By the law by the lab by the ballot:
sanity sweat.
Lost-ditch endorphins or what.
Hometruth cojones. Or what?
- orwhat, pg. 61
July 8, 2017
I found the poems hard to understand at first but then as I read them out loud I could see what was meant. I realized I like more literal poetry.
September 11, 2024
Even less fun than UN. Sorry, but this should be avoided unless you have the time to decipher gobbledegook word puzzles meant for a math brain.
May 29, 2015
I'll give this guy the benefit of doubt that he's using words that I don't understand, but I just didn't get half of this book...
Some of it was good, like the intro and outro, but that's about it...
Some of it was good, like the intro and outro, but that's about it...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews