Synopsis
The second title in the California Poetry Series. Humor and pathos, grit and glitter meet in these chronicles of Los Angeles noir life and dog days - earthquakes, riots, bars, all-night donut shops. This is not the cherished and envied Hollywood of tabloids but East Hollywood, the low-income, unfashionable side where no movie star deigns to venture. With surprising juxtapositions and the illusion of ease these witty and sometimes scary poems chart Suzanne Lummis' misadventures and liasons dangereuses a the low end of the big city.
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About the Author
Suzanne Lummis is director of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and teacher with UCLA Extension.
From the Back Cover
Humor and pathos, grit and glitter meet in these chronicles of Los Angeles noir life and dog days--earthquakes, riots, bars, all-night donut shops. This is not the cherished and envied Hollywood of tabloids but East Hollywood, the low-income, unfashionable side where no movie star deigns to venture. With surprising juxtapositions and the illusion of ease these witty and sometimes scary poems chart Suzanne Lummis' misadventures and liaisons dangereuses at the low end of the big city.
Reviews
Lummis, who has written a previous collection of poetry (the chapbook Falling Short of Heaven) and edited two anthologies, writes gritty, urban poems with a hard edge. Appropriately enough for the second volume in the "California Poetry" series, these poems are set mostly in L.A. They cover such topics as the newspaper man, ambulance sirens, muggings, a bar scene, even the aborted life of Nicole Simpson. The title is no joke; Lummis's Los Angeles is too often a place of danger, especially for a woman alone, as in the opening of "Death Threats": "2 a.m. and this caller's hooked/ on pure reaction, but death/ is old news, not worth phoning in." A longer poem, "The Barbie Coffin," presents a riff on a new Barbie doll, along with references to Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, and Camus, an interesting juxtaposition. Lummis paints scenes vividly, as shown by the poems "El Ni?o, After Visit from Jehovah's Witness" and "To the Man in the Parking Lot of Sunset and Normandie." But sometimes she strains too hard for metaphor, as in "Writer's Block": "You wake up with chills/ and a hernia in your imagination." Although Lummis manages to capture the angst, fear, and dissatisfaction of modern urban life, many of the poems in this collection are uneven. Buy where interest or location warrant.ADoris Lynch, Monroe Cty. P.L., Bloomington, IN
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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In Danger (California Poetry Series)
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In Danger (The California Poetry Series)
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In Danger (California Poetry Series)
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In Danger
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Roundhouse Press : Distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, Berkeley, Calif, 1999
ISBN 10: 0966669118
ISBN 13: 9780966669114
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Paperback. Condition: Near fine. Octavo in color pictorial wrappers (orange spine); 73 pp., 21 cm.; near fine copy; very light wear to wrappers; o/w a clean copy with clean, crisp, bright pages. In English. Series: California poetry series V. 2; Contents: First the Weather -- The Man Who Delivers My Paper -- The Cradle Will Rock -- No Metamorphosis -- Writer's Block -- Outline for Adult Film -- The Regular Nice Guys -- Poverty -- Crash I -- Why Life is Worth Living -- Breasts II -- To the Man in the Parking Lot of Sunset and Normandie -- Shangri-la -- Death Rings Marilyn Monroe -- Past, or Concurrent, Life Memory -- with Typo -- World News -- Allright Parking -- The Fahrenheit Chronicles -- Midnight Special (The Donut Inn) -- Sea Chanty -- Letter to My Assailant -- Graffiti -- New York Subway -- Why Her Name and Face are Everywhere -- Pomegranates II -- The Poet's Rancorous Complaint on Her Birthday -- Gin Alley -- Death Threats -- The Barbie Coffin -- Nicole, Before and After -- Femme Fetale -- Empty Shell -- L.A.'92 -- Poem Noir -- Ideas of Heaven -- El Nino, After Visit from Jehovah's Witness -- From the Air -- Electrical Storm, L.A. -- Handwash -- Palermo, 1955 -- When in Doubt Have a Man Come through the Door with a Gun in his Hand. Near fine copy. Seller Inventory # 86520
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In Danger (California Poetry Series)
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