Monday, February 02, 2009

no one gains weight in the shoulders by leah angstman




no one gains weight in the shoulders by leah angstman


alternating current
p.o.box 398058
cambridge, ma 02139
alt.current@gmail.com
alt-current.com

leah angstman uses lower case and in this case her small book of political poems, (mostly political), resounds in upper case.

“whose words are like cancer
and candy squeezed up
into cellophane together
as one glistening pitched package
marketed to a
cavitied and chemo’ed
shopper in a
tidy book aisle”…

some of angstman’s poem titles: ‘the eager spring of politicking; electronic love; airports; the bored wife; and someone else’s war. angstman fuels her poems with a generation of overeaters and excessive greed.

“wars
are better left to emperors
and dictators
of high degree
than presidents
of these united states

attempting to be
the paradox of dictator
and fdr
in one tight
honey herb spinach wrap

wars
are better fought
on home turfs
where we are not
strangers or outsiders
or unwelcome

but know the soil
we trod
and the temple
we burn

the chapbook is 4 ½ x 5 inches in size, but large in content and it is not for the light headed/hearted reader. the reader/activist will find powerful recommendations, observations and a sprinkle of love, angst and self reality.

“there is a bar
in boston
that bookwork would not
tough
with the great wall of china
would not gaze upon
a namesake
of tongue and cheek
solutions to alcoholism
buk would
celebrate his beer no
his alcoholism…”


------- Irene Koronas

1 comment:

  1. awesome! i just saw this review! thanks for the exposure. the writer in me needs to tidy up the last quoted poem snippet, as some of the words are incorrect, and thusly not making the sense they should:

    “there is a bar
    in boston
    that bukowski would not
    touch
    with the great wall of china
    would not gaze upon
    a namesake
    of tongue and cheek
    salutations to alcoholism
    buk would
    celebrate his beer not
    his alcoholism…”

    thank you for the exposure!
    buy it here:
    http://alt-current.com/pp/pp_item.html#no_one_gains_weight_in_the_shoulders

    -leah

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