Greed for money, power, sex, and love is the theme of this volume of dramatic monologues by the poet the New York Times Book Review has called "one of the most singular voices of her generation."
Beginning with "Riot Act," a monologue about the Los Angeles uprising in April 1992, Ai explored racial and sexual politics through the voices of diverse characters.
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From Publishers Weekly
In her fifth book, Ai ( Fate ) imagines and experiences contemporary degrees of American violence: who commits it, who endures it, and who does not. Her poems are narrated by a fairly raunchy cast of public and private people that includes an anonymous looter, Marion Barry, J. Edgar Hoover, a battered wife who finally shoots her husband, and an ice cream man, once molested by his parents, who himself molests children on the job. The violence is physical, sexual, moral; flamboyant or withheld; crafty, or senseless. And the poetry serves to bear witness, not indulge in excess--it is notable, partly, for an austerity. As in her earlier work, the poet's directness of address is an impressively leveling power, laying open complex situations with an odd, unapologetic, sometimes devastating candor: "I shot him, I say, he beat me," reports the abused wife of her husband in "Finished." But there is no redressing an injustice, and nobody can be righteous. The wife concludes, "I do not tell them how the emancipation from pain / leaves nothing in its place." Ai looks for wrongs, and doesn't right them. That isn't easy, and it seems truthful.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
Ai is a strong, powerful poet who writes about real things. These are daring, disturbing, ambitious poems that go for the heart of America. (Margaret Atwood )
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4.0 out of 5 stars
It's all in here...,
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This review is from: Greed (Paperback)
Murder, deceit, 1992 riots, domestic abuse, incest, PTSD, the Savings & Loan scandal, illicit love affairs, whores, pimps, and more; it's all in there in Ai's fifth book. This was my first exposure to her work and I was surprised at how hard-hitting the book is on a number of subjects. An interesting twist from most "personal" or "confessional" poems is that Ai tells her stories from both a female and male perspective. These are very visual works. If you like Bukowski, Denis Johnson, Jim Carroll or other hard edge poets, you'll like Ai.
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
great poetry, by a great poet,
By A Customer
This review is from: Greed (Paperback)
Just to let it be knownthat her name is Ai, not Aie..
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