''Blinking with Fists'' is the debut book of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Ch ...

and former

Zwan Zwan was an American alternative rock supergroup that was formed by Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, lead singer/guitarist and drummer of The Smashing Pumpkins respectively, after they disbanded in December 2000. Other members included bassi ...

frontman,

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only permanent member of the rock band th ...

. The progress and writing of the poems was covered in Corgan's blogs. The Volume of 57 poems was published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...

in 2004 and received mixed reviews.

Dwight Garner (critic) Dwight Garner (born January 8, 1965) is an American journalist and longtime writer and editor for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, he was named a book critic for the newspaper. He is the author of ''Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany'' and ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote that "at its best, ''Blinking With Fists'' is vivid and angular and not much worse than many first books of poems that arrive with heady praise from the poetry world's burghers." ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' gave the effort a "D," calling the poems "both pretentious and confoundingly esoteric." The book peaked at #24 on the

New York Times Best Seller list ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

. The jacket of the book was designed by Charlotte Strick and the artwork and author photograph are by

Yelena Yemchuk Yelena Yemchuk ( Ukrainian: Єлена Ємчук, born April 22, 1970) is a Ukrainian photographer, painter and film director, best known for her work with The Smashing Pumpkins. Early life Born in Kyiv, Ukraine to an athlete and a teacher, ...

, who was involved with artwork for The Smashing Pumpkins. Interior design is by Gretchen Achilles.

References

External links

Four poems from ''Blinking with Fists'' at alittlepoetry.com
{{Billy Corgan 2004 poetry books American poetry collections Faber and Faber books Books by Billy Corgan