Shake
The three long poems of Beckman's fifth collection mourn the depravity of American urban life while celebrating (sometimes with a bit of irony) the fleeting transcendence of love, sex and fun. Eschewing narrative in favor of episodic variations on the above, Beckman (Your Time Has Come, 2004) punctuates these extended meditations, comprising related poems grouped in series, with crystal-clear images rife with sad humor: "In heaven there'll be umbrellas for children (their size)." The results are subversively disorienting and emotionally precise.(Apr. 1)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.