Assisi: An Online Journal of Arts & Letters Volume 4, Issues 1 & 2 | Page 85
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WENDY GALGAN
THE PLEASURES OF THE BOOK
[This essay is adapted, in part, from my introductory comments!at!Evie!Shockley’s
reading at St.!Francis!College!in!October!2014.!!She!was!the!featured poet in the Spring
Reading Series sponsored by the college’s Women’s Poetry Initiative, of which I am the
director.!!Shockley’s!most!recent!poetry!collection!is!the$new$black,!published!by!Wesleyan!
University!Press.]
!
There$is!a!beauty!and!a!lyricism!to!Evie!Shockley’s!work!that!often!belies!—!or,!
rather,!complements!and!enhances!—!the!subject!matter!of!her!poetry.!$
!
Language!is!gorgeous!and!supple!in!Shockley’s!hands.!!It!provokes,!amuses,!angers,!
grieves.!!Sometimes!she!works!in!received!form.!!Sometimes!in!free!verse.!!
Sometimes!(as!with!“soundtrack!for!a!generational!shift,”!for!example)!in!verse!that!
appears!free!yet!has!a!hidden!form!or!structure!(read!the!first!words!of!each!line!of!
that!poem!and!think!of!Diana!Ross!and!the!Supremes).!!!
!
Shockley!will!use!quotidian!details!as!the!starting!point!for!poems!that!examine,!that!
problematize,!the!question!of!what!it!means!to!be!a!person!in!the!world.!!How!is!
identity!constructed?!!What!work!does!the!culture!we!come!from,!and!the!culture!
around!us,!do!to!help!form!who!we!are?!!What!do!we!owe!those!who!came!before!us,!
and!those!who!come!after!us?!
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Shockley!faces!the!world!headaon,!fearlessly.!!Her!poems!have!strength!and!
integrity.!!They!never!flinch.!!They!ask!us!to!enter!her!world,!to!see!things!though!
her!eyes,!while!also!prodding!us!to!question!our!own!assumptions,!our!own!
complacency.!!!
!
There!are!playful!poems,!angry!poems,!political!and!personal!and!universal!poems.!!
The!poems!ask!us!to!examine,!to!become!involved!in!questioning,!issues!of!gender!
and!race!and!class,!of!wanting!and!needing!and!working!and!dreaming.!
!
Shockley’s!poetry!has!a!great!compassion,!which!is!not!to!say!that!she!forgives!and!
forgets.!!No,!she!remembers,!and!in!that!remembering!renders!beautiful,!and!
beautifully!engaging,!poetry.!
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!!Assisi!!!79!