Shiny Pencils at the Edge of Things

Poetry by Dick Gallup

February 1, 2001 • 7 x 10 • 176 pages • 978-1-56689-106-6

This new and selected volume by a contemporary of Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, and Joe Brainard “implies that everything is ordinary, and everything is extraordinary.”

Simultaneously elegant and goofy, the poems in Shiny Pencils at the Edge of Things depict the quiet moments of life with both sophisticated wit and a child’s sense of wonder. Gallup’s poems often begin with household objects, or a walk down the street, but his lines leap across continents and ideas with ease.

Reviews

“At last this hefty retrospective from legendary hermetic Dick Gallup—secret hero of the second generation New York School. Gallup’s lines, like his mind, full of sweet surprise, lift us higher, toward this kind, tremulous edge of beautiful ‘things.’ What a pleasure his jaunty wit, his sure ear, his radical American virtue.” —Anne Waldman

“Gallup’s poems glow with the dark, sparking interplay of his profound intelligence and his angular sense of humor. Shiny Pencils at the Edge of Things is a various and generous collection that will delight Gallup’s fans and introduce his work to a whole new generation.” —Ron Padgett