Incivilities

by Barbara Claire Freeman

Poetry. In her first collection, Barbara Claire Freeman links lyric subjectivity to an exploration of crucial moments in U.S. history. There are meditations on the Declaration of Independence, institution of slavery, Gold Rush, Lewis and Clark Expedition, Civil War, Great Depression, terrorist attacks of 9/11, as well as on our contemporary economic and cultural lives. These formally inventive poems braid the personal and the political. They offer no compromise, no synthesis, but they do offer hope as they invite critical reflection of "authorized history" and trace the efforts of historical subjects to make and remake their lives. INCIVILITIES is committed to the past and to the present, envisioning a poetry that might function both as a ritualistic act of imagining and as a talisman against forgetting.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Caitlin Vaille · Rating 2 out of 5]

"because there is no reason to worry about the past when the past may never come because no one else will remember how damp the page smells after the network goes offline"

I enjoyed the political nature and themes addressed in this poetry collection--inherent prejudices, increasing reliance on technology, decreasing grip on circumstances, etc. However, I found the majority of these poems to be deeply inaccessible. To some, that cryptic nature might be fascinating; personally, though, I believe that additional effort required to comprehend a message often takes away from the strength of its landing. The handling of phrases from historical documents was fascinating to me and felt like the highlight of this collection.

[Soph Nova · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection had a few memorable lines, but overall I wasn’t taken by storm (which is a high bar, but is really the only bar that makes me sit up and pay attention to meaningful poetry). Would not really recommend.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know you're a badass when Judith Butler does your blurb. I swung between liking and kinda liking this. A few times I smirked because it did some twirling and ta-da's. Sometimes the lines were like pick-up sticks--a rigid little nest -- and I liked it because it felt pumping up. Other times it felt like a rigid little maneuver which I didn't care as much for--but it was always smart and I did like that. But in the all-and-all of this day, I enjoyed reading it. aloud. Here's to you Black Friday, you prick of a day. I will go jogging now.

[sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote a review of this on the Feminist Review blog; read it there if you're interested.