Lummis, who has written a previous collection of poetry (the chapbook Falling Short of Heaven) and edited two anthologies, writes gritty, urban poems with a hard edge. Appropriately enough for the second volume in the "California Poetry" series, these poems are set mostly in L.A. They cover such topics as the newspaper man, ambulance sirens, muggings, a bar scene, even the aborted life of Nicole Simpson. The title is no joke; Lummis's Los Angeles is too often a place of danger, especially for a woman alone, as in the opening of "Death Threats": "2 a.m. and this caller's hooked/ on pure reaction, but death/ is old news, not worth phoning in." A longer poem, "The Barbie Coffin," presents a riff on a new Barbie doll, along with references to Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, and Camus, an interesting juxtaposition. Lummis paints scenes vividly, as shown by the poems "El Ni?o, After Visit from Jehovah's Witness" and "To the Man in the Parking Lot of Sunset and Normandie." But sometimes she strains too hard for metaphor, as in "Writer's Block": "You wake up with chills/ and a hernia in your imagination." Although Lummis manages to capture the angst, fear, and dissatisfaction of modern urban life, many of the poems in this collection are uneven. Buy where interest or location warrant.ADoris Lynch, Monroe Cty. P.L., Bloomington, IN
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
David St. John
"Suzanne Lummis's breathtaking new collection of poems, In Danger, unveils all of the levels of loneliness we assuage with the consolations of poetry. With candor, power and poignancy, Suzanne Lummis illuminates the glorious absurdities of our lives, especially the pride and paranoia that arise from living in an urban landscape. Nobody can ride a metaphor better than this poet, and nobody delivers her work to the page with as much sass and wry humor. If Los Angeles were to have its own poet laureate, my choice would be Suzanne Lummis."
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