Mecurochrome.

Mecurochrome by Wanda Coleman Black Sparrow Press, March 2001 $35.00, ISBN 1-574-23155-3

Despite the abundant intelligence presiding over these poems, there is no lack of heart in Wanda Coleman's latest book. The title alludes to the healing powers of her craft, but it is instructive to note that this is a brand name. While the work is life and self-affirming, we know as she does, not to take it too seriously, as art is busily packaged and commodified despite anyone's best intentions. The mainstream acceptance that comes with having been awarded poetry's prestigious Lenore Marshall prize for her previous book, Bathwater Wine, has not resulted in a diminution of her common sensibilities. A sly observer, Coleman continues to shoplift language to address a gamut of psycho-social ills.

"Desperate for the soul-letting," the poems in Mercurochrome own an impressive spectrum of influence. While she maintains the sardonic wit of a subversive, the poems do, in fact, heal. Open letters of forgiveness are countered by frank evaluations of self and society and the complicity implied between the two. Coleman's tone modulates between resignation and indignation. If one poem profiles the attitude of a prisoner nobly accepting the terms of his/her incarceration, the next will silhouette the unrepentant. We read her fist shaking angrily at the despotic odds African Americans face daily in doing "what we do out of grief, sadness, depression ... what we know to our souls/is a raw deal." Between these swings, she manages to strike harmonic notes that epitomize her mastery over this double-consciousness. The inclusive and experimental quality of Coleman's voice characterizes a truly American aesthetic.

Gregory A. Pardlo is currently completing a MFA at New York University with a fellowship from the New York Times.