Eve's Red Dress [Paperback]

Diane Lockward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2003

"Cognizant of loss but always celebratory, Lockward's poems are irreverent, ravenous for the world, and unabashedly female. When. 'In Losing the Blues,' she writes, 'I could burn / the hands off a man,' you have no doubt that she is singing a true song." --- Kim Addonizio

Editorial Reviews

Review

...poetry to read when you're trying to plant the stuff of everyday living within deservedly intense and intimate parameters. -- Andrena Zawinski

Cognizant of loss, but always celebratory...irreverent, ravenous for the world, and unabashedly female...[Lockward] is singing a true song. -- Kim Addonizio

[Lockward's] work, even as it tackles the impure world of human conduct, is a pure delight. -- Baron Wormser

an elemental, sexy, womanly energy rushes forth...don't underestimate the power and clarity, the sheer dramatic precision of this work. -- Gray Jacobik

About the Author

Diane Lockward has published poems in a wide variety of journals including Spoon River Poetry Review, The Literary Review, Poet Lore, Runes, North American Review, and The Beloit Poetry Journal. Her poems have been featured on Poetry Daily and read by Garrison Keillor on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac. A former high school English teacher, Lockward currently works as a poet-in-the-schools. She is the recipient of a 2003 Poetry Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 113 pages
• Publisher: Wind Publications (February 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893239187
• ISBN-13: 978-1893239180
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Diane Lockward is the author of What Feeds Us (Wind Publications, 2006) which received the Quentin R. Howard Poetry Prize. She is also the author of Eve's Red Dress (Wind Publications, 2003), and a chapbook, Against Perfection (Poets Forum Press, 1998). Her poems have been published in several anthologies, including Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from the World's Most Popular Poetry Website and Garrison Keillor's Good Poems for Hard Times. Her poems have also appeared in such journals as Harvard Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, and Prairie Schooner, and have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Writer's Almanac. She is the recipient of a 2003 Poetry Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and has received awards from North American Review, Louisiana Literature, the Newburyport Art Association, and the St. Louis Poetry Center. A former high school English teacher, Diane now works as a poet-in-the-schools. www.dianelockward.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Add this collection to your shelf!, December 24, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Eve's Red Dress (Paperback)

If you can get only one poetry book this year, make this the one. If you're looking for poetry that's original, inventive, well-crafted, and multi-layered, this is it. Lockward has sass, courage, and wit. Her Eve has many faces; she is Everywoman, yet totally unique. And don't make the mistake of thinking the collection will be burdened by religious allusions; there's more blasphemy than doctrine here. This is a collection about a modern woman's world, but it is definitely not for women only; men are welcomed into this world and are much in demand. This is a collection for anyone who enjoys intelligent and passionate poetry that surprises with each rereading.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A collection that never disappoints, September 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Eve's Red Dress (Paperback)

I bought this book right after I heard Garrison Keillor read "My Husband Discovers Poetry" on The Writer's Almanac. I immediately loved that poem which turned out to be the last one in the collection. All too often when I buy a book on the basis of one poem I end up being disappointed. But not this time. The entire collection lives up to the promise of that poem. Again and again, Lockward made me laugh and cry, often at the same time. Her poems of love and desire are among the best I've read. But her subjects also include dancing, eating, gardening, clothing, and more. Lockward takes us through a wide range of moods. She is not afraid to face darkness, but she also knows how to have a good time. She displays an impressive verbal dexterity and creates stunning imagery. She clearly knows and practices her craft. In the end, I found this collection a complete pleasure.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars earthy and wonderful, August 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Eve's Red Dress (Paperback)

Lockward's Eve is not the biblical Eve, but certainly one of her descendents. A real woman in a real garden, she dons a forbidden red dress ("red / as any apple she's ever bitten") and struts and dances through the pages of this wonderful collection. These poems are both sensuous and sensual, full of fruits, vegetables, flowers, cats, birds, and human desire.

Lockward writes the kind of poems that give the reader something on a first reading, but not everything. Individually and collectively, they resonate and linger in the head, calling the reader back; then each subsequent reading unfolds new riches, new surprises. This collection merits praise for its range and variety, its depth of sorrow, its humor, its verbal dexterity, its courage and risk-taking, its seamless organization, This is a collection the reader will return to again and again.