Inner-Course: a Plea for Real Love.by Toni Blackman Villard, August 2003 $16.95, ISBN 0-375-50914-3 Readers can grasp Frida Kahlo's diary, Sonia Sanchez's images about love and power, and Sappho Sappho (săf`ō), fl. early 6th cent. B.C., greatest of the early Greek lyric poets (Plato calls her "the tenth Muse"), b. Mytilene on Lesbos. Facts about her life are scant. She was an aristocrat, who wrote poetry for her circle of friends, mostly but not exclusively women. She may have had a daughter.'s challenge to reconstruct her fragmented love in this vibrant work. This book, however, does not up the degree of honesty nor journey to higher-self issues Blackman addresses in the Introduction. Many poems rely heavily on conjunctions and articles that do little to arouse the senses. "Every Sunday" and "Friends Forever" suggest the influence of Nikki Giovanni, but they fall flat with cliche. Though earnest, Inner-Course is hindered by shortcomings. Latasha N. Nevada Diggs is a poet and performer. She lives in Harlem. |
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