Once [Hardcover]

Alice Walker (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace & World; Third printing edition (1969)
• ASIN: B000K09754
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A poetic journey with Alice Walker, June 2, 2003

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once (Paperback)

The back cover of "Once" notes that this was Alice Walker's first volume of poetry; the text has a copyright date of 1968. This volume contains poems about the Civil Rights movement in the United States, love, despair, and other topics. Particularly interesting is a sequence of poems describing Africa as seen through the eyes of an African-American.

Walker's poems are written in a clear, smooth, often striking language. Some standout pieces are as follows. "African Images": a sequence of 45 haiku-like stanzas. "Karamojans": an ironic and tragic portrait of the "proud people" of the title. The title poem: illuminates the ugliness of American racism and the beauty of those who stand against it. "Compulsory Chapel": shows a welcome touch of dry humor. "Mornings / of an impossible love": a sequence of prose poems. "Johann": a striking, visually evocative poem that explores the possibility of interracial love.

I have great admiration for Walker's skill as a novelist and essayist. "Once" shows her to also be a poet of sensitivity and grace.