The Women Who Hate Me Poetry: 1980-1990 [Hardcover]

Dorothy Allison (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Allison ( Trash ) writes poems that brim with emotion, sometimes focused and tender, but more often confused and enraged. The subject in this expanded edition of her collection of poems is Allison's lesbianism. Although she mentions the freedoms denied her and her "sisters," the poet ultimately seems to care little for furthering peoples' acceptance of lesbianism. Indeed, she goes so far as to proclaim: "I do not believe anymore in the natural superiority / of the lesbian." The poet realizes, bitterly, that she has been unable to escape her past. Abused as a child, she seeks dominant lovers who like to play rough: "I have never been able to resist" a woman who "talks mean" and "makes shell-puckered hickey-bite marks." As a child, the poet's family was "despised," her mother called " no-count, low down, disgusting " ital in text for her affairs with various "uncles." Allison acknowledges that she is her "mama's daughter," with "at least as much lust / in her life as pain." The poet's imagery is explicit and jarring but her wordplay unpolished. Except for a couple of sentimental love poems, what takes precedence here is a sense of vengeance against all who "hate" her.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

All Those Imaginary Ladies
Appetite
Boston, Massachusetts
Butter My Tongue
Dumpling Child
Hollow-cheeked
I Chose This Ground
Liar
Little Enough
Mattie Lee Gibson
Not Speaking/screaming
The Other Side Of The Wall
Reason Enough To Love You
She Plays It Tight
Silence Grew Between Us
The Terror Of My Enemies
To The Bone
Tomato Song
Upcountry: 1
Upcountry: 2
Upcountry: 3
Upcountry: 4
Upcountry: 5
We All Nourish Truth With Our Tongues: 1
We All Nourish Truth With Our Tongues: 2
We Make Love
What Is The Dream Of Flesh?
When I Drink I Become The Joy Of Faggots
Whoring Away My Imagination
A Woman Like An Ocean
The Women Who Hate Me: 1
The Women Who Hate Me: 2
The Women Who Hate Me: 3
The Women Who Hate Me: 4
The Women Who Hate Me: 5
The Women Who Hate Me: 6
The Women Who Hate Me: 7
The Women Who Love Me
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 69 pages
• Publisher: Firebrand Books (April 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932379990
• ISBN-13: 978-0932379993
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,395,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dorothy Allison is the bestselling author of several novels including Bastard Out of Carolina, Cavedweller, and Two Or Three Things I Know For Sure. The recipient of numerous awards, she has been the subject of many profiles and a short documentary film of her life, Two or Three Things but Nothing For Sure.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Dorothy Allison what can you say, January 11, 2012

By 

Anthony P. Haley "thaley" (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Women Who Hate Me: Poetry 1980-1990 (Paperback)

Dorothy Allison what can you say, I don't know, I bought for my wife. She likes this sfuff I can't say I care for it much from what she has forced me to listen to. While I might add I was listening to Sanders Bohlke.

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense and beautiful, November 5, 2006

By 

E. B. MULLIGAN "Bronwyn" (Tampa, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Women Who Hate Me: Poetry 1980-1990 (Paperback)

Terrific writing very accessible to the reader whose first or second choice in reading is not poetry. A wide range of emotions and subjects I thought several of the poems were lovely.

I bought this book because the author's books `Skin' and `Trash' are spotlighted in the anthologies `Courting Pleasure' and `Lovers: love and sex stories' by Tee A. Corinne. I enjoyed them both tremendously and sought out this book.

The 1983 edition is Illustrated by Laurie McLaughlin.

From the publisher's website - Razor sharp, angry, and full of passion, Dorothy Allison stands her ground and refuses to leave any of the hard stuff behind. Whether writing about her dirt-poor Southern childhood, its brutalities and its love, or her lesbian lust--her outlaw sexuality--her poetry is cheeky, touching, and on target as she speaks the truth to the women she loves.

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing and beautiful, November 15, 2005

By 

just some "guy" (philadelphia, pa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Women Who Hate Me: Poetry 1980-1990 (Paperback)

this book of poetry by southern writer dorothy allison is an amazing and personal narative of her life growing up poor and southern. it spans her childhood through her experineces as a lesbian feminist and as a femme lover of butch dykes. the imagery is rich, the stories heartfelt. this is a very accessable book of poetry with beautiful moments that everyone can relate to. buy this book.