Coping With Gravity - Softcover

Clair, Maxine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0931846323 ISBN 13: 9780931846328

Publisher: Washington Writer's Publishing House, 1988

Synopsis

Her first book of poetry. Not issued in hard cover.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

One of two winners of an annual Washington, D.C.-area competition sponsored by the publisher, this collection offers slice-of-life poems that center on the experiences of black women. Eschewing political rhetoric, Clair juxtaposes images of everyday events to convey her sense that life is a struggle against gravity: "Speeding down this elevator shaft this morning/ I am struck by the imperceptible/ difference between riding/ and falling." Her more effective poems combine harsh realism and gritty detail with a dialect rooted in black culture, evocative of the rhythms and intonations of jazz and jive. In "For Jesse Who Froze to Death," Clair elegizes: "Winter's a hard core Big Mamma, Jesse./ We've seen her snowflakes/ stripping their lace,/ throwing their bodies down/ with no grace,/ yes, we know her. . . . / She's a junkie, Jesse,/her stuff's uncut,/ she'll steal your life/if you nod." Unfortunately, Claire's work is frequently facile, where the banalities of daily existence are her starting point and finish line.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Washington Writer's Publishing House
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0931846323
• ISBN 13: 9780931846328
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 53