Overview

A powerful poem for peace by one of the great voices of contemporary literature, Maya Angelou, seizes the soul; Margaret Atwood's insightful, often amusing essay on poetics inspires; Beat legend Carolyn Cassady's intriguing new prose piece explores the energies that create and sustain all life; a high-speed letter from Beat icon Neal Cassady sweeps one away with his thoughts on intellect and the arts; acclaimed renaissance man Leonard Cohen's poem excites both the imagination and emotions; James Dean's hard-hitting poem gives a brutal glimpse into the acidic mixture of love and hate the legendary actor had for his father (a scan of Dean's actual poem appears with photos from a private collection); Bangladesh poet Taslima Nasrin, who had to flee her country following death threats by Islamic fanatics, contributed a poem which reveals much through the rape of two young sisters who are ordered by a judge to be whipped in public for speaking out against the man who raped them; Sue Russell shatters the Hollywood portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the movie MONSTER with her probing essay. There's also Sonia Sanchez's startling poem about a mother torn between love for her 7-year-old daughter and addiction to crack; Irish poet Eabhan Ni Shuileabhain's intense journey into the minds of the main people involved in executing a criminal at the time of execution; and even more powerful work by Tony Curtis, Joyce Carol Oates, C. K. Williams, Yoko Ono, Norman Mailer, Daisy Zamora, J. T. LeRoy, Joanne Kyger, John Gilmore, Tess Gallagher, Richard Kostelanetz, Marc Smith, Alice Notley, Billy Collins, Aram Saroyan, Diane di Prima, John Updike, in total 91 great talents. After reading this landmark anthology, you'll feel as if you'd lived intensely in the skins of many different people in different parts of the world. Highly recommended as a rich resource for teachers and a library basic.

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9782914853033

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Ian Ayres, founder and editor of Van Gogh's Ear, began writing poetry at puberty in houses of ill fame. In 1982, Leona Helmsley fired him from his desk clerk job at Helmsley Palace (New York City) for writing a poem on the back of Elizabeth Taylor's autograph in the hotel's celebrity guestbook. Since then, his poems and short stories have appeared internationally in hundreds of publications. Ayres moved from the U.S.A. to France in 1989 and, ten years later, along with Eric Ellena, created the movie production company French Connection Films, for which he directed the recent biography documentary Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom. Ayres' new memoir, Private Parts: The Early Works of Ian Ayres (French Connection Press, 2012) has just been released.

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