Greed
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Greed for money, power, sex, and love is the theme of this volume of dramatic monologues by the poet the New York Times Book Review has called "one of the most singular voices of her generation."Publishers WeeklyIn her fifth book, Ai ( Fate ) imagines and experiences contemporary degrees of American violence: who commits it, who endures it, and who does not. Her poems are narrated by a fairly raunchy cast of public and private people that includes an anonymous looter, Marion Barry, J. Edgar Hoover, a battered wife who finally shoots her husband, and an ice cream man, once molested by his parents, who himself molests children on the job. The violence is physical, sexual, moral; flamboyant or withheld; crafty, or senseless. And the poetry serves to bear witness, not indulge in excess--it is notable, partly, for an austerity. As in her earlier work, the poet's directness of address is an impressively leveling power, laying open complex situations with an odd, unapologetic, sometimes devastating candor: ``I shot him, I say, he beat me,'' reports the abused wife of her husband in ``Finished.'' But there is no redressing an injustice, and nobody can be righteous. The wife concludes, ``I do not tell them how the emancipation from pain / leaves nothing in its place.'' Ai looks for wrongs, and doesn't right them. That isn't easy, and it seems truthful. (Oct.)
Riot Act, April 29, 199211Self Defense13Endangered Species16Hoover, Edgar J.18Hoover Trismegistus23Jack Ruby on Ice27Oswald Incognito & Astral Travels33Party Line38Miracle in Manila43Knockout47Finished50Respect, 196753Family Portrait, 196055Life Story57The Ice Cream Man65Archangel67Lust, Love, and Loss69Reconciliation77Penis Envy89Greed92
