Monday, August 2, 2010

Book Review: Field of Wanting: Poems of Desire

W. Phipps, Field of Wanting. Buffalo, NY: BlazeVOX Books, 2008. Poetry. 142 pages.

When I write a poem, I talk about "things" and try to get the meter right. When Wanda Phipps writes a poem, she creates a fifth dimension! These post-Beat, post-Berrigan poems are something entirely Phipps' own: loose, clear, conscious, gorgeous. Desire in its widest definition. I suspect this is what happens when a writer lives very close to her writing, and is rigorous about her observations: life lived becomes changed, life written is something much wider than expected.

Recommended for collections including the avant-garde, New York writers, jazz-inspired writing, and contemporary poetry.

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