Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems 1965-1990 Complete [Paperback]

Alice Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 1993

Walker’s complete poems, including new and previously unpublished verse, collected for the first time-with author’s notes that provide historical perspective on spiritual and political issues of the last three decades.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The quest for peace and joy in a difficult world drives Walker's poetry. Even the most difficult moments can be redeemed, she seems to be saying in the excellent "Good Night Willie Lee, I'll See you in the Morning." Walker has grown as a poet, so that much of the strongest material comes in the later work, especially the wistful "Poem at Thirty-Nine." Highly recommended.

From Publishers Weekly

Composed, wry, unshaken by adversity, Walker ( The Color Purple ) in her poetry brings a woman's wisdom to bear on love, life's unavoidable tragedies, blacks' struggle for equality and justice, and a globe spinning toward eco-suicide. The collection (including nine previously unpublished selections) moves from early, delicate snapshots of Walker's travels to East Africa ( Once ), through taut, politically charged communiques from the Deep South of the late 1960s and early '70s ( Revolutionary Petunias ) to confessions of spiritual breakdown, followed by an expansive reaching out to the world ( Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful ). Her strong, beautiful voice veers from reverence for the earth to fiery protest over the West's use of the Third World as a dumping-ground for wastes and nuclear tests. Capturing the absurdist predicament of our finite lives ("on the way, maybe--to being daffodils"), these poems beckon us to heal ourselves and the planet.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (October 31, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156400936
• ISBN-13: 978-0156400930
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,165,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alice Walker is one of the most prolific writers of our time, known for her literary fiction, including the Pultizer Prize-winning The Color Purple, her many volumes of poetry, and her powerful nonfiction collections. Walker's most recent book is The Chicken Chronicles, a memoir. Her advocacy for the dispossessed has spanned the globe. She lives in Northern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surrounded With Inspiration, May 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems 1965-1990 Complete (Paperback)

Startled to find so many poems that resonated in my own life, I copied many down and posted them around by room. Each provides a meditation on a different theme, from death to distraction, affairs of the heart to hunger and the nagging, geographic pull to home. When I give my speech at graduation next week, it will end with "The Nature Of This Flower Is To Bloom," thanks to Alice Walker.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Compilation, June 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems 1965-1990 Complete (Paperback)

I love the structure of her poems. She writes for those who have forgotten how things used to be with African American life and struggles. My favorite section in the book is from "Revolutionary Petunias" and "Willie Lee." Walker has been an inspiration for me in writing poetry. I love her use of imagery in her free verse. It was commented that Walker relies too much on her relationships in her personal friendships in her writing. But I disagree. I propose that no one should read her poetry without reading her autobiography of her past. Most poets will create an illusion of situations, but Walker alludes to her past and speaks the truth to us all. I hope she sees this because I've always wanted to talk with her and ask her about the things I have written, but I am in the process of challenging myself to want the reader to feel something in a meter that they can feel but not see. Then THATS incredible. Nice work Ms. Walker

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walker Convert, June 25, 2002

By 

"brazensun" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems 1965-1990 Complete (Hardcover)

Reading Alice Walker reviews here on Amazon is highly annoying. Either they praise her to the skies, scouring any who react with an analytical response, or they attack her for the racial simplicities that some see as marring her work (those who get annoyed by her "white folk have no rhythm" trope). Both extremes have not been very useful for promoting *my* greater understanding of her work--I see the talent seething, squirming in her--but through many books, there were twists in her choices that alienated her talent to me.

Simply put, this book that convinced me Alice is a Talent with a capital "T". She starts with a lovely preface, "In keeping faith with Poetry's honest help to me, I have not deleted or changed--beyond a word or two--anything I have written, though greatly tempted at times to do so. The young self, the naive promiscuous self, appear doubly vulnerable now, in light of my unexpected bonus of years, and the experience they have brought me. I embrace them all, as Poetry embraced me..." From there, she follows with some beautiful, beautiful poetry, speaking to the struggle to develop and improve as an artist.

There are mis-steps, irritations. "There are no tigers/in Africa!/You say./Frowning./Yes. I say./Smiling./But they are/very beautiful." doesn't do much for me. I prefer my evocations of Africa without this almost Disney-esque gloss of "all cool primitive things we'll embrace as African."

Cumulatively, however--the poems are terrific. It's not often that I read through an entire volume of poetry without putting it down. Read this book for all its warts and missteps--and glory in it for its terrific human achievement.