Customer Reviews

Rice

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One of the most outstanding African-American poets of the turn-of-the-century, Nikky Finney presents her second collection of poetry in *Rice*. Some of my favorite poems in the book are "Black Orion," "Burning Hair" and "The Goodfellows Club." A truly must-read collection from one of America's greatest rising poets.

You will have a hard time finding Rice in a bookstore. I know --I've looked and looked.

When you first see the book, you'll notice the cover art. (Too bad there is no image available on amazon.com.) Besides being so strong visually, the cover is exceptionally beautiful. But wait ... you haven't even made it to the inside yet. Nikky Finney is such a good writer. And you don't have to be a student of poetry or a poet to appreciate her writing. She is a great story teller and it just so happens that she has picked the art of poetry as the structure for her stories.

Start reading ... "The Blackened Alphabet" ... "Irons At Her Feet" ... "Yellow Jaundice" ... and you enter her family's South Carolina home. There's some deep stuff here. It's a journey you take with your whole self. Finney gives the best part of herself and makes you feel like you are on the journey too with the best part of yourself. These stories will stay with you.

And one more thing: I think "The Turtle Ball" is one of the sexiest poems I've ever read.

I had the great opportuity to meet this brillant poet, and have had the chance to hear her read some of the works from Rice. This book is wonderfully composed of poems that tug at your inner emotions and of those that are quite thought-provoking. It's a nice change to to experience the raw words that make up Rice, rather than something that seems scripted and practiced. I wouldn't expect anything but the like from Ms. Finney.