supercheesegirl

More from the "I've owned it for years and never read it because I'm a big slacker" shelf. Apparently I bought this book used for $6.50. I have no recollection of purchasing it. Huh.

Really good poems. Technically excellent: I was questioning structure and form not too long ago, and this ended up being a perfect book for me to read. Among other things, there was a pantoum and a villanelle, besides just a lot of focus on rhythm and rhyme. Kizer's very playful but very much in control.

In terms of subject matter, there was an interesting mix here--some very political poems, and others more personal, about women's lives or individual sorrows. Usually I'm not big on political poems, but Kizer does it well. The poems I didn't like much, I still liked, just because of her wry voice and her cleverness with language. The only poems in the book I didn't like much at all were the translations.

Favorite poems in the book:
- 'Gerda'
- 'An American Beauty' and 'Poem for Your Birthday' are both lovely celebrations of friendships
- 'Mud Soup' was absolutely terrific, the rhythm and rhyme fit so well with what she's saying
- 'Fin-de-Siecle Blues' wraps the collection quite nicely