Reviews (4)

Gay Poetry--But Not All That Poetic or Gay?
Webster's says "poetry" is concentrated imaginative language. And "gay" would relate to minority-group experience? I don't see very much high poetic quality here, nor explicit references to gay perspectives (not just sexuality, but "diversity" of viewpoints). D.A. Powell fan
To answer the other New Orleanian's question: D.A. Powell is an incredible young poet, An Iowa graduate, who has published two books of which i know, Tea, and his new one, Lunch, which isn't as good over all but which contains probably my two favorite poems of his, "[My father and me in hollywood, fading and rising starlettes]" and another about his father which ends with a reference to Gone with the Wind. He's one of the highlights of the anthology and everyone should check him out!

Don't judge this book by it's awful cover
No self respecting gay poet would have signed off on being enclosed in a bland white! cover.The anthology itself is excellent, of course not all the up and coming legendary current poets are here. Seems it is true one only sees who one sees.And to answer the previous reviewers questions regarding the inclusion of Miss Doty in another anthology:he is needed in order to elevate the status of the current lesser knowns, a basic law of signature.Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. American poetry    3. Anthologies (multiple authors)    4. Gay men    5. Gay men's writings, American    6. Poetry    7. Gay   

Subjects:  1. 20th Century American Drama    2. American    3. Drama    4. Gay men    5. General    6. Plays    7. Poetry    8. Drama / General    9. Drama texts: from c 1900 -    10. English    11. USA   

Reviews (2)

Strike a Pose!
If Sharon Dennis Wyeth's Orphea Proud is any indication of the direction of children's literature, may all kids henceforth be gifted with iPods, Xboxes, and Game Boys, which will undoubtedly require of them more brain cells than this book.At its best, Orphea Proud is an affront to both creative writing and the art of storytelling with its faux sincerity and patronizing passages.At its worst, it is filled with candy coated scenarios, resulting in one hundred and eighty-nine pages of potential energy that never turns kinetic.Its "life is a box full of chocolates" type of philosophy is pure fantasy, even for its intended teen audience.And its trite and cliche-filled poetry is so painful that it likens itself to nails on a chalkboard.Nothing is explored in this book, no lessons learned.Wyeth is so preoccupied with turning out a crowd pleasing novel that she seems to have forgotten the definition of the word sincerity.This book, about a girl on a path to self-discovery, is uneven and dull in its execution (it involves making the reader a part of a live audience), and features characters, including the narrator, that are drawn so thin they will remind one of the cardboard cut-outs used in place of real people in kindergarten plays.

Doesn't live up to its potential
I really, *really* wanted to like this book. It was set up like an open mic show, with a teenage girl telling the story of how she came to terms with her sexuality through narrative and poetry. She was black and her lover was white, so there was also a race dynamic in there. I'm interested in sexuality issues and racial issues and young adult novels written in creative ways, so I was super excited to read this.
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Subjects:  1. Artists    2. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    3. Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction    4. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12)    5. Family life    6. Fiction    7. Juvenile Fiction    8. Lesbians    9. Poetry    10. Social Issues - General    11. Social Issues - Homosexuality    12. Social Issues - Prejudice & Racism    13. Social Situations - General    14. Juvenile Fiction / General   

Reviews (2)

poetry from the trenches
John Giorno is one of the finest spoken word poets in New York City.He is also quite adept at getting the word down on paper, too.You Got to Burn to Shine is a great collection of poems.It even includes anintroduction by William S Burroughs.Giorno writes poetry from the gut. It is free verse that swings with intensity.if you like a snifter ofrealism in your poetry then this book is for you.Giorno writes with ahard nosed frankness that is both poignant and refreshing without beingoverbearing.Poems like Stretching it Wider and (Last Night) I GambledWith My Anger and Lost are classic free verse.I read this collection withgreat delight.

A powerful look at the truth of life.
I found this book to be powerful and truthful. The context and the langauge were delicate machines portaying the life of the author. It should not be read by anyone with a closed mind. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. American Contemporary Poetry    3. Gay men    4. General    5. Literary Criticism    6. Literary collections    7. Literature - Classics / Criticism    8. New York (N.Y.)    9. Poetry    10. English    11. Poetry / General    12. USA    13. Works by individual poets: from c 1900 -   

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Gay    3. General    4. Poetry    5. Poetry texts & anthologies   

Reviews (34)

The 'Angels' have come!
This remarkable play writen by the best playwrite since Shakespeare has achived not only rocking your mind with it's beautiful prose, language, and story, but also has gained the title of the most wonderufl play in modern liturature (counting plays). Its star-stricken plot will not make you put it down! It is truly wonderful.

The 'Angels' have come!
This remarkable play writen by the best playwrite since Shakespeare has achived not only rocking your mind with it's beautiful prose, language, and story, but also has gained the title of the most wonderufl play in modern liturature (counting plays). Its star-stricken plot will not make you put it down! It is truly wonderful.

I love this book!
I'm a college student majoring in Theater Design.I had to read this play for one of my classes my freshman year.So I sat down expecting to plod through a story that I'd never read again.Boy was I shocked!I loved it!I couldn't put it down until I'd read the last page, and then I got right online and ordered the sequel.Honestly, I'm not as big a fan of the second book.I haven't read it in a while, but from what I remember it's more offensive, and honestly, a little more like smut.There's an angel with 7 vaginas and it has sex with one of the characters...one of the gay characters..go figure.The second book also seems to take more pot shots at God, which I didn't appreciate as a Christian.Anyway.This is a review of the first book, not the second.(just reminding myself!)I have 7 big bookcases of books at my parents' house, plus my dad is a librarian, so I do a LOT of reading.This book is ALWAYS one of the few "Chosen" books that I take to college with me to keep in my dorm.And just as a side note, I'm not gay, so this book is NOT just for gay people like some of the people whom I've talked to seem to think.BUY IT! You'll be enlightened and inspired to think. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American    2. American Contemporary Drama    3. Cohn, Roy M    4. Cohn, Roy M.    5. Drama    6. Gay men    7. General    8. Plays    9. Poetry   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American poetry    3. Gay & Lesbian    4. History    5. History and criticism    6. Lesbians' writings, American    7. Literary Criticism    8. Literature - Classics / Criticism    9. Poetry    10. United States    11. Women and literature    12. Women authors    13. "Gertrude Stein; Elizabeth Bishop; Adrienne Rich; twentieth-century lesbian poets; themes of love, war, and place"    14. American English    15. English    16. Lesbian studies    17. Literary Criticism & Collections / Women Authors    18. Poetry & poets: from c 1900 -    19. USA   

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Gay men    3. Poetry   

Reviews (3)

broth for the modern soul
This is simply a swell collections of poems.Some are sweet, others painful.All are provoking.

The Heartbeat of a Lover's Soul
June Jordan's poetry beats furiously in the name of love: for Haruko, for life, for real.Since the human language is inadequate to truly express this emotion, Jordan manipulates and bends the written word to fit thehuman heart.When she describes love as "yes directed by desire"("When I or Else"), she speaks the living truth. This book is damn good.
This book is blood, sweat and tears. It is the sweet succulence of love. Her poetry is bitter and rich. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. African Americans    2. American - General    3. Asian Americans    4. General    5. Jordan, June - Poems & Criticism    6. Lesbians    7. Love poetry, American    8. Poetry    9. Poetry / General    10. Works by individual poets: from c 1900 -   

Reviews (4)

Bodies of Absence
In the poem "Exile", Rodriguez writes "After a while you begin to feel intimate with the missing part. You begin to feel it's natural not to feel pleased or satisfied. You look for houses in dead ends to live in." It is from this restlessness, this intimacy with the missing part that Rodriguez writes. She gives voice to the self that is warped through exile, that falls prey at times to fatalism, and at other times to nostalgia, while remaining self-conscious enough to avoid these pratfalls herself.
exiled into eden
Perhaps unfairly, I immediately thought of Nabokov when reading Garden of Exile for several reasons.Here we find synesthesia, visual precision, and poems of Cuba, the near-mythical land she can never return to (even while seeking refuge in it), like Nabokov's Russia: half-remembered, half-invented, still and forever lost.
Morning in the garden
Aleida Rodriguez's "Garden of Exile" is an exposition of craft, from rigorously end-rhymed forms such as sestinas and sonnets to ambling meditations on identity, culture, friendship, womanhood, painting, and sex. Her voice is so settled and sure that this collection doesn't come across as a first book, or perhaps does so only in the relatively uncomplicated style of composition. Many of the poems are narrative - the "Cuentos de Cuba" section most notably, and most autobiographical - yet relaxed, the poetry resting more in verbal music than image or lyric transposition. It lends a very inviting quality to the whole enterprise, as though in reading one were simply sitting down to morning coffee in Rodriguez's garden and listening to her recount her days.
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Subjects:  1. American - General    2. American Contemporary Poetry    3. Europe - Spain & Portugal    4. General    5. Lesbian    6. Poetry    7. Poetry / General   

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Canadian literature    3. Japanese authors    4. Lesbians    5. Lesbians' writings, Canadian    6. Literary collections    7. Poetry   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American    3. American poetry    4. Canadian poetry    5. Gay men    6. Poetry   

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Fiction    3. Gay men    4. Literary Criticism    5. Poetry    6. Literature of special Gay interest    7. Short stories   

Subjects:  1. Literary Collections / African    2. 1962-    3. Apartheid    4. Black Canadians    5. Colored people (South Africa)    6. Exiles' writings, African (Eng    7. Gay men's writings    8. Literary collections    9. Norman G. Kester,    10. South Africa   

Reviews (1)

A must read for anyone traveling through life the hard way.
Michael Lassel's book "The Hard Way" is a combination of poignant ruminations and poemson the joys and anguishes of life.His writingstyle is conversational and soul bearing. The reader is drawn intothe book as if it were written by a best friend. Included verse is strikingin the images and feelings it provokes.Lassel speaks the uneditedlanguage of living life as a gay man. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Gay    3. Gay Studies    4. Poetry   

Reviews (1)

One great story, one great poem, then a drop-off
Dennis Cooper, before turning to novels, wrote several books of poetry and short-short stories. The good news about The Tenderness of the Wolves is its super final story, a longer piece called "A Herd", where Cooper begins to explore dark areas, including mutilation, rape, and sadism, which he later returns to in his novels."A Herd" is haunting and brutal, verging on shocking on a first read.His exploration of these difficult topics is strong, yet subtle.Also included in this book is "Being Aware," among the best of all Cooper's poetry.Unfortunately, beyond that, the poems are a marked dropoff, distinctly less interesting than in Cooper's earlier book, Idols. He covers the territory of bored, sexually peaked teenagers better than anyone, but these poems don't show more than flashes of true insight. In addition, if anyone wants to read a truly overblown analyzation of Cooper's work, check out the introduction to this book, written by!noted novelist and essayist Edmund White. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American    2. Gay men    3. Literary collections    4. Nature/Ecology    5. Poetry   

Reviews (1)

WONDERFUL
THIS BOOK WAS ALONG THE SAME LINE AS OTHER ROBBI SOMMERS BOOKS. WONDERFUL IMAGES. WORTH READING! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. American Contemporary Poetry    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - General    5. Lesbian    6. Poetry    7. Sexuality In Literature    8. English    9. Literature of special Lesbian interest    10. Modern fiction    11. USA   

Features

• Audiobook

Subjects:  1. Audio - Drama / Poetry    2. Audio Adult: Other    3. Continental European    4. General    5. Lesbian    6. Poetry    7. Unabridged Audio - Drama/Poetry    8. Poetry / General   

Reviews (6)

Saves American Poetry from Itself
I was given a copy of this book as a Chirstmas gift.I had heard of Trinidad before, even read his last book Answer Song, a friend had it.Plasticville renewed my interest in reading poetry.The work is fresh, plain, clean -- and while Trinidad can sometimes be a rigid formalist the material lightens the load.Having become bored with much contemporary American poetry, Trinidad's Plasticville helped to renew my interest.From the pop-culture material to the more intimate, domestic stuff (written in the voice of his dog!), Trinidad's Plasticville is refreshing, well-written, and a pleasure to read.So smart, so engaging, I can't wait to read what he does next.

Recycled
Some poems stretch the meaning of what a poem is. Others are simply not poetry. Plasticville contains poems of the second type. Trinidad seems obsessed with plastic and Barbie, but fails to do anything original or even clever with these themes. A few of these poems are just lists : Monster Mash, Of Mere Plastic, and In My Room. They appear to be poetry, but are just lists anyone could type up with their word processor centering the margin.A few, like the title piece Plasticville, Clue, and Directions, and are amusing, but there just aren't enough poems in this collection to make it worthwhile or memorable.

Pure genius!
This is the one of the few books of poetry I've read that actually means something! Discovering this has really changed the way I think about verse and books in general. The best thing about it? NOT boring. I'm so sick ofthe innocuous, adjectival, over-written, meaningless poems in so manyjournals and "literary" magazines of our time. David Trinidad issmart--read for pure pleasure, and then read again and look for the subtletricks and talent he employs to make these poems truly great art! Trulyfresh, too. No one else is writing about our tarnished culture likeTrinidad. He is truly unique, and like I said, the best compliment I cangive is that this book is not a bore--something that 98% of all books ofpoetry these days are! Thank you Mr. Trinidad!You've got me reading andenjoying poetry again! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Poetry    3. American English    4. Literature of special Gay interest    5. Poetry & poets    6. Poetry / General    7. Works by individual poets: from c 1900 -   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American    3. American Contemporary Poetry    4. American poetry    5. Gay    6. Gay men    7. Gay men's writings, American    8. Poetry    9. Sexuality In Literature    10. English    11. Modern fiction    12. Poetry anthologies: from c 1900 -    13. USA