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Upgraded to Serious
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Upgraded to Serious Hardback - 2009

by Heather McHugh

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Reader reviews for Upgraded to Serious

From the publisher

Carol Muske-Dukes calls "McHugh, with her comic-book moxie and her linguistic virtuosity, a kind of Superwoman of poetry. The poems focus on what is within 'eyeshot, ' or visible, but their true subject is their author's mortal acuity."--Los Angeles Times

"McHugh's eighth book finds this acclaimed poet as odd and entertaining as ever, with her trademark slippery associative lines and jagged stanzas...but also subtly sobered by growing older while living through the grim political climate of the last eight years. McHugh's short, jerky lines, odd rhymes, bemused gravity and slant perspective on the world at hand bring Emily Dickinson to mind....McHugh remains one of our most important and unusual poets...."--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Offering an idiosyncratic sense of sacredness, the book makes the earnest and the tongue-in-cheek almost indistinguishable....Writing in her signature relaxed iambic line, McHugh flips and winds the language of American common wisdom. In Upgraded to Serious...we encounter a poet who is listening assiduously. Her attention to language is visible in each poem's marked use of rhyme. The sustained outpouring of alliteration gives the sense that McHugh will never be out of breath."--ForeWord

"McHugh's poems move as fluent wholes, thanks in part to her artful use of rhyme, rhythm, and portmanteaux. If much ancient poetry has become fragmentary over time, and much modern poetry begins as fragments, Heather McHugh's poetry blurs the line between fragments and wholes, crafting one from the other. She delights both in dilating linguistic fragments into astonishing new wholes and in exposing and excavating language's invisible fault-lines."--The Oxonian Review

"If McHugh is serious, she's anything but grim; with all her punning, bantering, and mock scolding of herself . . . she brightens the shadowy corners of her world with verbal pyrotechnics."--The New York Times Book Review

"McHugh is known as a challenging wordsmith, but, as this collection reveals, she is also a compassionate eyewitness . . . Her lines are animated but serious, and though they accelerate quickly, meaning and humor can be found in a single word."--The New Yorker

"Her poems are open, resilient, invisibly twisted: part safety net, part trampoline."--The Village Voice Literary Supplement

One of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2009

National Book Award finalist and 2009 MacArthur Fellow Heather McHugh presents a fast-paced, verbally dexterous, and brilliantly humorous book. Utilizing medical terminology and iconography to work through loss and detachment, McHugh's startling rhymes and rhythms--along with her sarcastic self-reflection and infectious laughter--serve as antidotes to the sufferings of the world. Being "upgraded to serious" from critical condition is a nod to the healing powers of poetry.

"Not to Be Dwelled On"

Self-interest cropped up even there,
the day I hoisted three instead
of the ceremonially called-for two
spadefuls of loam
onto the coffin of my friend.

Why shovel more than anybody else?
What did I think I'd prove? More love
(mud in her eye)? More will to work?
(Her father what, a shirker?) Christ,
what wouldn't anybody give
to get that gesture back?

She cannot die again; and I
do nothing but re-live.

Heather McHugh is the author of a dozen books of poetry and translation. She teaches at the University of Washington and Warren Wilson College and lives in Seattle.

Details

  • Title Upgraded to Serious
  • Author Heather McHugh
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition 1st Edition
  • Pages 120
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, Washington, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 2009-11
  • Features Dust Cover, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9781556593062 / 1556593066
  • Weight 0.65 lbs (0.29 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 in (23.11 x 15.24 x 1.52 cm)
  • Category Poetry
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2009013347
  • Dewey Decimal Code 811.54

Media reviews

Citations

  • Foreword, 10/17/2009, Page 0
  • Library Journal, 11/01/2009, Page 69
  • New Yorker (The), 11/16/2009, Page 81
  • Publishers Weekly, 09/21/2009, Page 39
  • Publishers Weekly Best Books, 11/02/2009, Page 25

About the author

Heather McHugh is the author of a dozen books of poetry and translation, including Hinge & Sign, a New York Times Book of the Year and a finalist for the National Book Award. McHugh teaches at the University of Washington and has been a visiting faculty member in the MFA at Warren Wilson College since its inception.

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Upgraded to Serious
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Upgraded to Serious

by McHugh, Heather

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Copper Canyon Press. Used - Very Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with possible writing/highlighting. Binding strong with minor wear. Dust jackets/supplements may not be included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
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Upgraded to Serious

Upgraded to Serious

by McHugh, Heather

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Copper Canyon Press, 2009. Hardcover. Very Good. Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Upgraded to Serious
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Upgraded to Serious

by McHugh, Heather

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Copper Canyon Press, 2009. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A stated First Printing with a complete numberline. 8vo. - over 7¾ in. - 9¾ in. 85pp., a Fine copy with a tight, unmarked spine; the dust jacket is Fine. // 'One of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2009 National Book Award finalist and 2009 MacArthur Fellow Heather McHugh presents a fast-paced, verbally dexterous, and brilliantly humorous book. Utilizing medical terminology and iconography to work through loss and detachment, McHugh's startling rhymes and rhythms--along with her sarcastic self-reflection and infectious laughter--serve as antidotes to the sufferings of the world. Being 'upgraded to serious' from critical condition is a nod to the healing powers of poetry.' -- publisher.
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Upgraded to Serious (Lannan Literary Selections)
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Upgraded to Serious (Lannan Literary Selections)

by McHugh, Heather

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Copper Canyon Press, 2009-11-01. First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 6x0x9. The binding is tight, corners sharp. Text is unmarked. The dust jacket shows some light handling, in a mylar cover.
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Upgraded to Serious

Upgraded to Serious

by McHUGH, Heather

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9781556593062 / 1556593066
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Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2009. First edition and first printing. Hardcover. A review copy stamped on the half title page and with laid in publisher sheet. McHugh's thirteenth collection of poems. A fine copy in cloth boards and in a fine dust jacket.
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Upgraded To Serious: Poems (Mint First Edition)
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Upgraded To Serious: Poems (Mint First Edition)

by Heather McHugh

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Copper Canyon, 2009 Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press [2009]. First Edition. First Printing. Hardbound. NEW. Very fine/very fine in all respects. A pristine unread copy. Comes with archival-quality mylar dust jacket cover. Smoke-free shop. Defect-free. Shipped in well padded box. You cannot find a better copy. 0.0. 1st Edition.. Hardcover. New/New.
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Upgraded to Serious
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Upgraded to Serious

by Mchugh, Heather

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781556593062 / 1556593066
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Copper Canyon, 2009. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. Book is in excellent condition in every respect: as new. Binding is solid and square, covers have sharp corners, exterior shows no blemishes, text/interior is clean and free of marking of any kind. Dust jacket is new.
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Upgraded to Serious.

Upgraded to Serious.

by McHugh, Heather

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Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon 2009. Signed on the title page by Heather McHugh. First edition / First printing. Beige cloth. Very fine in very fine dust jacket.
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Upgraded to Serious
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Upgraded to Serious

by McHugh, Heather

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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781556593062 / 1556593066
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Copper Canyon Pr, 2009. Hardcover. New. 120 pages. 9.50x6.00x0.50 inches.
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Upgraded to Serious (Lannan Literary Selections)
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Upgraded to Serious (Lannan Literary Selections)

by McHugh, Heather

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  • Hardback
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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781556593062 / 1556593066
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hardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
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