false 898112 1 Rafael Campo skillfully plays the rules of formal poetry against themselves in his second book of poetry, the Lambda Award-winning <I>What the Body Told</I>. In these intense poems, the body tells its story of loneliness and perseverance in an unwavering voice. One might expect the confessional poetry of a gay Cuban American poet to strike out in an expansive, perhaps enthusiastic mode, but Campo discovers in the sonnet plenty of room to explore questions of sexual, cultural, and professional identity. Five sonnet sequences--"Canciones de la Vida," "Canciones de la Muerte," and "Ten Patients, and Another"--form the heart of the book. These recall and try to answer each other's agonizing investigations into AIDS, desire, and the ironic distance between doctor and patient. Although the speaker is generally involved in the dramatic situation, he tends to speak as an observer, limning the assumptions below the surface and exploding them with fury. In other parts of the book, Campo synthesizes two traditions of formal poetry--the elegiac and the erotic--to create a third in such poems as "Before Safe Sex," "The 10,000th AIDS Death in San Francisco," and "Men Get the Shaft." These moving and vivid poems allow the reader to grieve for AIDS victims while simultaneously considering what it means to be healed. Despite Campo's day job--Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School--he refuses in his poems to play the healer; his evocative diagnoses, however, prescribe a schedule of gentleness, understanding, and rigor to make it through this life. 883299 12 1996 What the Body Told total:12|4:4|3:4|2:4| 12 36 21 2 0 0 false false Tue Feb 17 12:19:08 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 17 15:53:11 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 12:19:08 -0800 2009 ten patients and another...oh my god. the merging of medical history and sonnet?! another high school syllabus turned actual real-life-friend & mentor. love it. the aforementioned 'ten patients' section reads like hypnotic addictive tormenting and gruesome and lovely poetry versions of House!!! sorr...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Oct 31 10:09:43 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 10:10:02 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Fri Aug 28 00:39:26 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 00:39:22 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 00:39:26 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun May 03 21:08:23 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 21:08:23 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sat Apr 18 08:28:32 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 18 08:28:32 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Thu Feb 05 11:29:10 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 11:29:10 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Dec 11 07:41:29 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 07:41:30 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Wed Nov 05 17:39:13 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 17:39:13 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Tue Jul 29 08:23:20 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 29 08:23:20 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sat Jul 05 18:51:42 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 05 18:51:42 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Thu May 29 19:58:43 -0700 2008 Thu May 29 19:58:49 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue May 06 12:47:50 -0700 2008 Tue May 06 12:47:50 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jan 24 05:20:56 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 24 05:20:56 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Fri Sep 21 03:05:11 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 03:05:11 -0700 2007 2 0 false false Wed Aug 22 06:09:05 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 22 06:09:05 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Wed Aug 15 07:08:19 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 15 07:08:19 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Jul 24 14:26:56 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 24 14:27:03 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Mon Jul 16 10:55:57 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 16 10:55:57 -0700 2007 2 0 false false Sun Jul 15 16:49:30 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 15 16:49:30 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Mon Jul 02 16:02:43 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 02 16:02:43 -0700 2007