Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery [Hardcover]

Pamela Sneed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1998

When daddy pushed me
and girlhood innocence
out my bedroom window
I picked up the shattered pieces of myself
and became a woman

Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery is lyrical and provocative, humorous and potent as it tackles both personal and contemporary issues of enslavement, sexuality, psychological trauma, and physical abuse. From beginning to end some of these poems chart the journey that is life and one woman's cycle of dependency as she recovers her lost identity. Thematically, it is bound by a writer's search for love and fight for freedom, drawing on the spirit and will of Harriet Tubman, the image of the bloated body of Emmett Till, the bombing of Philadelphia Move, and lesbian love. In the tradition of June Jordan and Sapphire, Pamela Sneed presents an in-your-face, powerful, and stirring debut.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is Sneed's first book of poems, but she has already been on the cover of New York magazine and has performed for audiences in New York, Vienna, and Berlin. An African American from the suburbs of Boston, she describes herself as "trained for docility, factory work/ to divorce city Blacks/ settle quietly/ peacefully integrate/ lead crisp cotton, pleated pant/ Sunday school existence." An antidote to docility, her work explores, if not terribly deeply, the conflict between urban and suburban culture for a person of color and the emotional difficulties of straddling that line. And as a lesbian of color, Sneed is obsessed with bad love: how self-hatred leads to self-destructive relationships. After much discouragement and many false messiahs in the guise of oppressive lovers, her final rescuer is art: "And when the principal said/ and my mother said/ I would never amount to anything/ I became an artist/ and made myself." Although it is likely that Sneed knows her live audience and how to connect with it, she does not go out of her way to create a finished written product; here is powerful subject matter but not well-crafted poetry.AEllen Kaufman, Dewey Ballantine Law Lib., New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

paper 0-8050-5474-X The poetically inept and politically inane rantings of performance artist Sneed would escape notice but for mainstream publishings cravenly bringing her meager verse to the market and exploiting the anger and confusion of the self-styled revolutionary lesbian poet. Sneed's first book proves that whatever may have been powerful as chanted on the stage is sloppy and facile on the page. Shamed by her suburban hang-ups, Sneed cultivates ``a kick-ass spirit'' and shouts out to all thoselovers, teachers, fatherwho ``UNDERESTIMATED'' her ``POWER.'' She identifies with ``abused'' kids, bemoans ``shackling poverty'' and ``unfeministic jealousy.'' Her political martyrology is a confusion of images from Harriet Tubman to the group rapists in Central Park. Years of therapy reveal that ``psychotherapy is. . . a capitalist tool.'' The poets confusion of politics and pathology leads eventually to the insight that ``the real revolution/is changing myself.'' Underneath it all runs a sad plea for acceptance of the love she offers, and, less appealingly, an amazing desire for literary prizes and big saleswhich just might come to pass, as Sneeds irresponsible publishers no doubt are gambling. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Owl Publishing Company; 1st edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805054731
• ISBN-13: 978-0805054736
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,525,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Redefining the "angry black lesbian" cliche, August 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery (Hardcover)

This is exactly what Nikki Giovanni is shooting for, and doesn't reach. Pamela takes her rage, fear, and helplessness and transfers it directly to the reader, and does so with a sense of beauty and language that rivals the best of the traditional poets. She brings the world of radical feminism to everyone's doorstep, while never losing the sense of her own irony and philosophical limitations. I hold this book in the same reverance that I hold my copy of Dickenson.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truthful Emotions for all, December 11, 2001

By 

Teacher of Peace (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery (Hardcover)

The poems allow you to journey into a soul rarely touched by contemporary poetry. Regardless of sexual preference, color, or religion-Ms. Sneed writes with truth. A truth that is uncomfortable and relentless, but needed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I really love Sneed's work. It caresses the cord of culture., January 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery: Poems (Paperback)

Pamela Sneed is a true artist. Her poetry portrays the struggles of Black lesbians, lonliness,what it is to suffer abuse, and what it is to find oneself, love oneself, and continue on. I really enjoyed this collection of poems. I would also like to give it the highest recommendation possible. Her work touches the depth of a specific culture as well as the human condition. Not only that, it enthralls readers and brings experience to life. Again, I give this work the highest praise possible, and I encourage all people to read it, know it, analyze it, and abosorb it. Ms. Sneed's poetry is vibrant, no nonsense, in your face, and true to life. Her words open up an adventurous, as well as educating avenue that exposes readers to a feared culture that lives right inside the walls of mainstream society.