Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light: Poems

On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light: Poems

Piercy, Marge

Hardcover

General Poetry

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0593317939
ISBN13: 9780593317938
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Published: Sep 29 2020
Pages: 208
Weight: 0.75
Height: 0.90 Width: 5.30 Depth: 8.40
Language: English
A bountiful group of poems--direct, honest, and revelatory--that reflect on language, nature, old age, young love, Judaism, and our current politics, from one of our most read and admired poets

Words are my business, Marge Piercy begins her twentieth collection of poetry, a glance back at a lifetime of learning, loving, grieving, and fighting for the disenfranchised, and a look forward at what the future holds for herself, her family and friends, and her embattled country. In the opening section, Piercy tells of her childhood in Detroit, with its vacant lots and scrappy children, the bike that gave her wings, her ambition at fourteen to gobble down all knowledge, and a too-early marriage (I put on my first marriage / like a girdle my skinny body / didn't need). We then leap into the present, her twilight zone, where she is learning to be quiet, learning to give praise despite it all. There are funny poems about medicine ads with their dire warnings, and some possible plusses about being dead: I'll never do another load of laundry . . . There is comfort in old bodies / coming together, in a partner's warmth--You're always warm: warm hands / smooth back sleek as a Burmese cat./ Sunny weather outside and in.

Piercy has long been known for her political poems, and here we have her thoughts on illegal immigrants, dying languages, fraught landscapes, abortion, President-speak. She examines her nonbeliever's need for religious holidays and spiritual depth, and the natural world is appreciated throughout. On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light is yet more proof of Piercy's love and mastery of language--it is moving, stimulating, funny, and full of the stuff of life.

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