A photocopied collection of thirty-one free verse poems by this prolific poet, with exceptional artwork by Dan Nielson. For all of her poetry Lyn Lifshin remains an enigma; it is hard not to read a touch of confession, as well as deep empathy into her work. Here she provides a nightmarish and turbulent reflection of our terror as it exists amid cold-blooded monsters disguised as humans. Necro-philia, abuse, pedophilia, mobsters, murder, dismemberment are all included and every bright, red drop stimulates the reader's mind with startling images. In one poem she confides "I ran away/ skipped school/ got gang raped." In another, she pounds us with a horror of childhood sexual abuse: "I had/ pneumonia/ from swallowing/ my father's/ semen..." This is a critique of our times, broken and blackened. Lifshin doesn't shy away from shock--she frags us.--R.R. Lee Etzwiler
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #4,
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Copyright Burning Press 1994, 1995.