The Rape Poems (Paperback)

by Frances Driscoll (Author) "In the heart of the lightning belt, enamored of humidity-the wet ruin it makes of everything-my sister reads to the head-injured who can only blink..." (more)
Key Phrases: Hillary Clinton, Tipper Gore

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Frances Driscoll's The Rape Poems is a deeply disturbing, compelling and somehow beautifully rendered sequence of poems, in which a terrible wounding has been transformed by long meditation, careful attention to detail, and superb artistry. Though hers is a landscape one would think would be strewn with the landmines of sentimentality and self-pity, there is never a false step here as she guides us through her nightmare. Of how many books of poetry can one truly say, 'I could not put this book down until I'd read it through to the end'? This is one of those rare books." -- Paul Mariani

"It is impossible to praise this book too much-its power, maturity, sorrow, and fierce resistance. This book should be required reading in America." -- Lynn Emanuel

"Not since the Beats has reportage been employed without the slightest pretension. Harrowing and obsessively skeptical, tender and private and hugely humane, these unsettling poems arrive like dispatches from the very source of our wounds." -- Ralph Angel

"Powerful. Sad. Touching. Sad. Inspiring. Sad. What a gift she has." -- Nikki Giovanni

"These are stunning poems, in every sense of the word. Tracing the circuitous and torturous paths of memory, Frances Driscoll fearlessly looks back on, and into, rape. Her triumph is that she refuses to trivialize through a mode of confessionalism. Instead, these are poems that are lush with a common, familiar, evocative language that cuts through the surface detritus of our lives, the 'pastel drugs' of therapy, the police reports, the 'cheap filler' of the national wire. What she ultimately reveals are the beauty and terror of what she hesitantly calls 'real life.' These are poems of great courage. And if these are poems of terror, they are also poems of beauty, as Frances Driscoll takes us to a place finally colored by the 'lemon-green of very young leaves.'" -- Gillian Conoley

Aberrational Manners
After A Time Consuming Dental Procedure
All Of This Happens In A Warm Coastal Climate
And I Put Away
Automatic Icemaker
Baskets
Bread, Water
But Remember
Certain Days, Certain Nights
The Color Of The Rug
Color Study
Common Expression
Dear Susan
Difficult Word
Donor Mentality
Dreams Of Girls
Entertaining Ray
Final Words
First Recital
Hard Evidence
Here, Among Old Roses
Incomplete Examination
Island Of The Raped Women
Man, Woman
Market Research
Multiple Choice
Outrageous Behavior
Page 134
Parochial Air
Perversion
The Plague
Procedural Similarity
Ray's Sentence
Reading Material
Real Life
Some Lucky Girls
Spotting Ray
That She May
This Will Happen
Unpurchased Batteries
Vocabulary Words
What Backlash
Wild Ribbons
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Description
: Writing from her own horrifying experience of being raped repeatedly in her home by a stranger, Frances Driscoll creates an expression of pain and confusion and anger. In a series of poems, she asks questions which a person in such a situation would ask, and she recovers, slowly, with the help of friends and family.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: Pleasure Boat Studio; 1st edition (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965141314
• ISBN-13: 978-0965141314
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #839,464 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Moving, Artful,and very poetic, July 18, 2000

By	Sarah Rothberger (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews

As a poet who has experienced her own traumas, I turned to this book to see how Driscoll would depict hers. I found the experience entirely moving. This poet's verse is captivating. Reading the poems, I felt like I was in a trance. Her words kept repeating in my head afterwords. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has experienced a trauma like rape, because Frances Driscoll has the words that are so difficult for some to find. I would recommend this book to any poet who deals with real subjects. This is a truly amazing work of art and power.

5.0 out of 5 stars Enables you to express when words fail., November 3, 2008

By	Angela Waugh (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is amazing. It allowed me to put words tothe overwhelming feelings of pain and rage. This book is a useful tool in trying to understand our own feelings when they are mirrored back through wonderous poetry.