Tender (Pitt Poetry Series)
Dericotte's preface to this work, her fourth collection of poems, invites the reader to proceed in a nonlinear fashion, with the title poem as the hub from which each section radiates. Yet part of the charm of Dericotte's work?despite its raw and upsetting subject matter?is its extreme readability, from start to finish. In plain language that does not settle for simplicity or cliche, these poems probe being at its root?sexually, spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually?and recount how violence?both physical and mental?ravages the self. One topic of particular concern is "passing"?Dericotte is a light-skinned African American who is often taken for white: "Oh, my people,/ sometimes you look at me with such unwillingness?/ as I look at you!/ I keep trying to prove/ I am not what I think you think." Section 6, "Dead Baby," is a moving litany about child abuse and mother-hatred that evokes the music of Walt Whitman in its strategic deployment of the hexameter line. Recommended for all poetry collections.?Ellen Kaufman, Dewey Ballantine Law Lib., New YorkCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.