I Love You but I Don't Speak Your Language

Jason Bredle is the author of eight poetry collections, including four chapbooks. He is recipient of the New Issues Poetry Prize and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. His work has appeared in JAMA, Denver Quarterly, and 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day, among other publications.

• Part IWhat to ExpectP-BearPanther PrideRoman CandlePinball CitySelf-HypnosisDodger StadiumChinese StarsBirthday PartyChopper CityRetina HeartBright LightAlligator Breakdance ContestNear a Kiosk on the QuadWhat Do You BelieveTropical MaladyArmy of DolphinsPart IIYellowUpon MeThe Feel-Good Poem of the SummerThe Feel-Good Poem of the Summer, Part II: Feeling Good with a VengeanceSleeping on the BeachDairy of a WerewolfGun Range TalkWhat a PartyFast HamHamster DisasterTruckasaurusPart IIIBeating a Dead HorseDays of Our LivesThe StoryBird OmensBat SleepSword-ChestTerror BirdNight WolfFinal FantasySongs about OwlsFlagstaffPart IVDoctor BronsonReflective PoolSelf-PieStranglerWhat Is a GodFarewell, Sea BirdCaramel SundayGore MonsterHeart SickStalkerMiami ConnectionI Think I'm with You, but I Don't Think You're with MeJofer RanchCountry FoxMourning VoiceDelivererAcknowledgments

"I like being adrift on the sea of Jason Bredle's mind. Prescription pants? Check. A flaming room? Why not. And a restful night of bat-sleep turns out to be just what the doctor ordered. In these poems, surrealism brushes against the menace and loneliness of life and reminds us, again and again, that we think and feel in the language of fireworks. Forget the sea: the dark skies of Bredle's poems are brightened by an expansive imagination. This is a book of oohs and aahs."—Bob Hicok, author of Water Look Away"These poems skip like stones across the surface of our amalgamated moment in history. Beneath lies the murk of our bottomless culture, its petty consumerism and hollow jingoism, its blatant hypocrisies and daily outrages. But instead of feeling sunk with tragedy, I Love You But I Don't Speak Your Language spins out a roiling, defiant, and gratifying farce. These are poems that leap and bound, that splash and revel. And no matter how bleak or daunting the distances they attempt to cover, they offer the kind of singular, centrifugal comedy we need to get to the other side."—Jaswinder Bolina, author of English as a Second Language and Other Poems"In 'Personism', Frank O'Hara lamented that only William Carlos Williams and a couple of other poets could compete with the movies. When I discovered Jason Bredle's poetry in 2007, I thought he was one of the few poets capable of cutting through social media, YouTube, electronic gaming, cable news, and our other million-noted contemporary distractions. He combines the disjunctiveness of Dean Young with the discursiveness of Tony Hoagland in poems that are as entertaining as theirs and full of feeling. In 2007, I thought Bredle was light years ahead of the ruck of his contemporaries, and in this collection, he's light years ahead of where he was then."—Tom C. Hunley, author of The Loneliest Whale in the World"I Love You But I Don't Speak Your Language is a stunning, original and deceptively irreverent collection of poems. Delight in language is tragically rare thing, especially with such generous intelligent directness as I see here. The consistent singular voice of the speaker through the whole collection, does not waver, and yet it creates a distinct effect: total trust, and solidarity, with the reader. It is a gift to be lonely together with these poems."—Bianca Stone, author of The Near and Distant World