Scan barcode
raluca_p's review
5.0
God damn it, father-doctor / I'm really thirty six. / I see dead rats in the toilet. / I'm one of the lunatics.
"Marx: In your book, All My Pretty Ones, you quote this part of a letter written by Franz Kafka: The books we need are the kind that act upon us like a misfortune, that make us suffer like the death of someone we love more than ourselves. A book should serve as the axe for the frozen sea within us. Is this the purpose you want your poetry to serve?
Sexton: Absolutely. I feel it should do that. I think it should be a shock to the senses. It should almost hurt."
"Marx: In your book, All My Pretty Ones, you quote this part of a letter written by Franz Kafka: The books we need are the kind that act upon us like a misfortune, that make us suffer like the death of someone we love more than ourselves. A book should serve as the axe for the frozen sea within us. Is this the purpose you want your poetry to serve?
Sexton: Absolutely. I feel it should do that. I think it should be a shock to the senses. It should almost hurt."
davenash's review
4.0
The interviews here offer insight's into Sexton's poetry and writing process. I loved the joke about how after her poetry class she'd park in the No Loading zone by the bar and say that it was ok because she was going to get loaded. In another interview with Maxine Kumin, she down played how much she drank on those outings.
I would have like for her to go more in depth in the interviews about whatever poem she just read. The best interviews were for college students. The ones at the ends kind of got repetitive. I've read her daughter's memoir - Mercy Street, and Kumin's intro to her collect works. This was a chance to hear her in her own terms.
I would have like for her to go more in depth in the interviews about whatever poem she just read. The best interviews were for college students. The ones at the ends kind of got repetitive. I've read her daughter's memoir - Mercy Street, and Kumin's intro to her collect works. This was a chance to hear her in her own terms.
More...