E-Verse Radio

Top Five Books of Celebrity Poetry

by Ernie on 19/01/10 at 9:28 am

They might not have much going for them as poets, but boy can they move units. I worked for News America Publishing, HarperCollins’ parent company, when Jewel’s book of poetry, Night Without Armor (the title really says it all) was published. The first printing in hardcover was 800,000 (for those who don’t know much about publishing, just trust me when I say this is an impressive first printing). Still, we can’t resist picking on them just a little bit. Here are five celebrity books of poetry, and some others who didn’t make the list but are absolutely essential to the topic. Let me know if I missed any notable examples. Enjoy.

5. Val Kilmer, My Edens After Burn (Blue Feather, 1988)

4. Jimmy Stewart, Jimmy Stewart and His Poems (Crown, 1989)

3. Leonard Nimoy, We Are All Children Searching for Love (Blue Mountain Arts, 1977)

2. Suzanne Somers, Touch Me (Nash Pub, 1973)

1. Jewel, Night Without Armor (HarperCollins, 1998)

Bonus: Ryan Adams, Infinity Blues (Akashic Books, 2009)

Really Big Bonus! Charles Sheen, A Peace of My Mind (Engram Digital, 1999)

Oh, but there are more.

Ally Sheedy, Yesterday I Saw the Sun (Summit, 1991)

Jack Palance, The Forest of Love: a Story in Verse (Summerhouse, 1996)

Some videos.

Kurt Loder talks to Jewel about her poetry, and things get a bit tense when he points out that she misuses some words. A classic!

Kristen Wiig reads from the “earlier poems” of Suzanne Somers.

Jewel reads from her book.

Ryan Adams reads “White Diamond”.

A transcript of the Kurt Loder vs. Jewel moment:

LODER: There’s a line you have, “There are nightmares on the sidewalks/there are jokes on TV/ there are people selling thoughtlessness with such casualty.” Casualty doesn’t mean that, does it? Casualty’s like a guy gets his arm blown off. I mean isn’t that . . .

JEWEL: That’s a type of casualty.

LODER: What?

JEWEL: It’s a type of casualty that . . .

LODER: No, really. I thought you were trying to say casualness.

JEWEL: No, casualty.

LODER: Oh, OK. All right. Are you a tech person? Do you take computers on the road, do you log on, e-mail?

JEWEL: No, I’m a bit archaic. I mean, I still write everything by hand. It’s quite archaic.

LODER: Wow.

JEWEL: It is wow. I’m dyslexic as heck. I mean, I just can’t type well.

LODER: Really? That’d be a problem for a writer.

JEWEL: It is a bit of problem. I mean, putting the book together. Everything was done by hand. I had to recopy it legibly to get it . . .

LODER: That explains casualty probably.

An excerpt from Ally Sheedy’s poem “I breathe a sigh of regret”:

I breathe a sigh of regret
for him
it is so painful
this letting go
dark wound in my heart
surrounded by the soft pink flesh of
healing transformation

An excerpt from “Teacher” by Charlie Sheen:

…Teacher, teacher, I don’t understand,
You tell me it’s like the back of my hand.
Should I play guitar and join the band?
Or head to the beach and walk in the sand?
Oh, teacher, teacher, I don’t understand…
… Teacher, teacher, the years have passed,
I never thought it would go so fast,
The things I learned they didn’t last.
I’m headin’ to sea as I raise the mast.
Oh, teacher, teacher, I’m a peace of your past.