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Diane DiPrima

Pieces of a Song: Selected Poems Paperback – January 1, 2001

by Diane Di Prima (Author)

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Feminist Beat poet Diane di Prima was born in Brooklyn, New York. She attended Swarthmore College for two years before moving to Greenwich Village in Manhattan and becoming a writer in the emerging Beat movement. There, she developed friendships with poets Amiri Baraka, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Frank O'Hara and Audre Lorde. After joining Timothy Leary's intentional community in upstate New York, she moved to San Francisco in 1968. One of her collections of poetry, The Poetry Deal, is also published by City Lights Publishers. Di Prima was named Poet Laureate of San Francisco in 2009. She has been awarded the National Poetry Association’s Lifetime Service Award and the Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Achievement and has also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Committee on Poetry, the Lapis Foundation and the Institute for Aesthetic Development. St. Lawrence University granted her an honorary doctorate.

Print length

200 pages
Language

English
Publisher

City Lights Publishers
Publication date

January 1, 2001
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.6 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0872862372
ISBN-13

978-0872862371
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Here di Prima, a disciple of the Beat movement and a practicing Buddhist, records her search for spiritual fulfillment by way of various religious, political, romantic and intellectual pursuits. Unfortunately, the poet's metaphysical and political visions become lost in meaningless abstractions or banal generalities expressing a naive dream of goodness (in "Revolutionary Letters": "Left to themselves people . . . share blankets, dope & children / they are not lazy or afraid"). An overtly spiritual piece, "Paracelsus:" offers the image of a hallucinogenic "juice of stars / by circular stillation / smear / the inner man w/ the coction / till he burn / like worms of light in quicksilver." Of the many love poems, the most effective are those in which di Prima uses specific descriptive details to evoke particular moments unique to different relationships. In "Poem in Praise of My Husband (Taos)," she writes "I suppose it hasn't been easy living with me either . . . / but we cling to each other / as if each thought the other was the raft / and he adrift alone. . . ." Di Prima is at her best when concentrating on the subtle nuances and moods of human behavior.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Diane di Prima, revolutionary activist of the 1960s Beat literary renaissance, heroic in life and poetics: a learned humorous bohemian, classically educated and twentieth-century radical, her writing, informed by Buddhist equanimity, is exemplary in imagist, political and mystical modes. A great woman poet in second half of American century, she broke barriers of race-class identity, delivered a major body of verse brilliant in its particularity."—Allen Ginsberg

"With di Prima's selected poems, Pieces of a Song . . . we have a chance to examine the powerful gifts this deeply imaginative poet has to offer us. . . . "—Jack Foley, Poetry Previews (website)

"A prolific writer generally associated with the Beat Generation, di Prima deserves wider recognition."—Library Journal

"She is not about to be regarded merely as a literary figurehead, but as an ongoing contributor to the arts—a presence whose voice continues to positively impact those who listen, as it has for the last half-century."—Verbicide Magazine

About the Author

Di Prima has published more than 40 books. Her poetry collections include This Kind of Bird Flies Backwards (1958), the long poem Loba (1978, expanded 1998), and Pieces of a Song: Selected Poems(2001). She is also the author of the short story collection Dinners and Nightmares (1960), the semi-autobiographical Memoirs of a Beatnik ;(1968), and the memoir Recollections of My Life as a Woman: The New York Years (2001).

With Amiri Baraka, she co-edited the literary magazine The Floating Bear from 1961 to 1969. She co-founded the Poets Press and the New York Poets Theatre and founded Eidolon Editions and the Poets Institute. A follower of Buddhism, she also co-founded the San Francisco Institute of Magical and Healing Arts.

Di Prima was named Poet Laureate of San Francisco in 2009. She has been awarded the National Poetry Association’s Lifetime Service Award and the Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Achievement and has also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Committee on Poetry, the Lapis Foundation, and the Institute for Aesthetic Development. St. Lawrence University granted her an honorary doctorate.

She has taught at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute, the California College of Arts and Crafts, and in the Masters-in-Poetics program at the New College of California. Selections of her papers are held at the University of Louisville, Indiana University, Southern Illinois University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s libraries. Di Prima lives in Northern California.

Diane di Prima passed away on October 25th, 2020.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ City Lights Publishers; Reprint edition (January 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0872862372
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0872862371
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.6 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #888,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,033 in Poetry by Women
- #4,523 in American Poetry (Books)
- #5,490 in Poetry Themes & Styles (Books)

Customer Reviews:
14 ratings

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5 star		62%
4 star		11%
3 star		18%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		9%

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poetlover

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

Brilliant poet - brilliant book - quite superb! she's a rare masterpiece!

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

A great book - shameully bad print job

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2016

Verified Purchase

Pieces of a Song is a wonderful book by a revered poet. But as delivered from Amazon, the printed edition (sent by Amazon) quality was shameful. My copy (not the one Amazon delivered) has the same cover, and after fifteen years the high quality paper has lost none of its newness. The copy I bought from Amazon was for a friend. I couldn't give it to her - she is also a poet - because the pages (of a supposedly new book) had yellowed and faded. Amazon should stick to Kindle Books.

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Anthony J. Berret

Di Prima's Early Poems

Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2013

Verified Purchase

An excellent selection of Di Prima's early and hard-to-find poems, especially those ;to LeRoi Jones. Goes along well with her book Memoirs of a Beatnik.

3 people found this helpful

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Copper Star

Pieces of a Song: Printed Divinity

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2001

To say that this collection of poems is "delightful" would be the understatement of the decade. Diane DiPrima quickly knocked her way up to being one of my favorite poets in the space of 5 days (the time it took for me to read this book !). These poems are bohemian and contemporary. They're forlorn in a controlled way, romantic but smirking, and strong willed. DiPrima truly outdid herself penning every word.

20 people found this helpful

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