Chasing Utopia

October 15, 2013

Established poet, writer, instructor, and activist Giovanni (English, Virginia Tech; Bicycles: Love Poems) begins with beer in this poetry/memoir hybrid. She explains that in her family of foodies, only her mother and her aunt drank beer. Thus begins Giovanni's search for the number one beer in the world. Of course, Utopia (the beer in question) is something else entirely. These are stories of shared history and memories that intersect with poems. Giovanni writes of friends, hurricanes, getting behind the wheels of cars, taking care of elderly parents, her childhood, her adulthood as writer and teacher-- ."..But I grew up/ And learned/ Trust and love/ Are crafts we practice/ Are wheels/ We balance/ Our lives on." She includes pieces in homage to authors from Toni Morrison to Sonia Sanchez and others in gratitude to musicians such as Marian Anderson and Don Pullen. Giovanni's utopia is infused with love as well as advice, especially to writers. "Poets shouldn't commit/ Suicide," she says, because "That would leave the world/ To those without imagination/ Or heart." What Giovanni has given readers is her heart, in a story told with gentleness and passion and with simplicity and humor. "Poet is garlic/ Not for everyone/ but those who take it/ never get caught by werewolves." VERDICT Highly recommended for all poetry collections.--Karla Huston, Appleton, WI

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2013
With nearly 30 books for children and adults to her credit as author, and another half-dozen or so as editor, along with a stately list of major awards and honorary degrees, Giovanni has long been a force for literary exuberance and social responsibility. In her latest accessible, teasing, and poignant collection, she offers straightforward, plain-speaking, sneakily resonant poems, many in prose form. Giovanni remembers her grandparents and the joys of simple pleasures: food, Sunday mornings, driving cross-country. She looks back to her childhood and first literary stirrings, and to her return, as a published poet and mother, to take care of her parents after her father's stroke. When she describes the labor involved in scraping off layers of old floor wax, she cues us to reflect on how the past shapes and nurtures us even as we must free ourselves from its smothering accretions. Giovanni also reminds us that Love is a skill; then, in When the Girl Becomes a Poet, she celebrates the opportunity to be a truth giver / contribute / something beautiful and useful to the world. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)