Decoy [Paperback]

Elaine Equi (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Elaine Equi's work has a great capacity to surprise the reader, to take sudden, unexpected twists. The wonderful sleight-of-hand in "Sometimes I Get Distracted" got Equi included in a recent volume of "The Best American Poetry." In "This Is Not a Poem," she writes: "...the poem comes into being/ ...as the reader anticipates/" and her own poems create that very sense of anticipation. A strong talent.

From Publishers Weekly

Equi's (Surface Tension) second collection emerges as a provocative mixture of postmodern eclecticism and graceful wit. These poems are quietly ironic in tone, employing short, sparse lines that at times seem almost reminiscent of the stark elegance of haiku. Particularly admirable is Equi's ability to recycle the odd bits and scraps of her world and weld them into poetry-she can blithely write about Rilke, Rolling Rock beer, UFO's, Rimbaud, and the cooking show on channel 17 in practically the same breath. Throughout the volume Equi experiments with language; the elusive and artificial nature of language, speech and writing forms a prevalent and recurring theme in Decoy. At times, however, the wordplay can become a bit too self-consciously clever, and there is a dangerous tendency for some of the poems to flatten out into mere strings of aphorisms. There is an understated quirkiness about these poems that is ultimately compelling, however, and in the best of them Equi successfully merges the serious and absurd in language that is by turns ironic, frivolous and lyrical.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Coffee House Press; First Edition edition (November 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566890268
• ISBN-13: 978-1566890267
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,327,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.