Manyebook

A Beautiful Name for a Girl

Poetry. Human identity testing itself: are the speakers of these poems mother, teacher, creative artist — or are they merely bones to be sorted and juggled? The ramifications of identity ("we'd know... the translation / into mother to be exaltation. Murder, also") leap up sharply in the book's central poem, "Snuff Ballet," in which one speaker, a dancer, is tested by inquisitors who may be a board from whom she seeks a grant. But perhaps these voices, which quickly become intimate and judgmental ("When was the last time you had sex?"), are merely criticism internalized, part of the "one-woman show."

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 104
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9781934103173
  • Genres
  • poetry
  • Release date
  • 2011