Between the Sea and Home [Paperback]

Almitra David (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the second poem of this debut collection, starved cats howling outside a window are "sometimes confused with the / cry of a baby or a / wild thing dying"--an appropriate introduction to the animal instincts battling with human nature in the poems that follow. Unmistakably feminist, many poems are in the voices of teenagers raped by their fathers and boyfriends. A long poem is addressed to Delmira Agustini, a Uruguayan poet "murdered by her husband whom she left after twenty-six days of marriage." But this damage done to other women has its personal counterpart, as the speaker figuratively moves rocks aside to dig up her mother's body: "rocks heavier than / your two babies / dead after birth / heavy as the doctor / who would not cut / who said do it alone / you'll feel more like a woman." A 13-page monologue in the voice of a bag lady expertly renders a seemingly irrational range of emotions: after a calm beginning, the speaker becomes increasingly agitated as the woman she's addressing runs off down the street. Though they vary in length, all of David's convincing poems are remarkably uniform in line and stanza structure; but form is not the issue here, content is.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Avenue Du Bois 23
Bag Lady: A Part Of Her Poem
Begin
Cathedral
Crabs
Crows
Even Though
Fig
Fishermen
Flight
For Muriel Rukeyser
Geese
House By The Sea
If She Is Fourteen
Kali-durga
Letter From A Sea Monster
The Line
Marsh
Medusa
Mulberries
Notes From Delmira
The One Who Kills Cats
Paths
Prologue
Prophecy
Ruins
Sailmaker
Shells
Tiger Lilies
To Gail From Cow's Cove
Unburying Mother
Vultures
White Trout
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: The Eighth Mountain Press (April 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933377223
• ISBN-13: 978-0933377226
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,194,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying!, June 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Between the Sea and Home (Paperback)

Almitra David is a wonderful poet -- she captures images like a drink of sweet water -- you want more, and there's plenty more to have. I have enjoyed this book for several years and am just getting into her new book...thanks to author & publisher for offering us work like Almitra David's!