Book reviews, please

TUESDAY, 30 AUGUST, 2005
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Poem: "And the Word," by Richard Jones, from The Blessing © Copper Canyon Press. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

And the Word

I find things inside books
borrowed from the library—
foreign postcards, rose petals,
opera tickets, laundry lists,
and, once, a bloody piece of cloth.

Today, inside a volume
of Cid Corman's elegant poetry,
a snapshot—
a man in a dark nightclub
embracing a red-haired stripper.

The man grabs the woman
brashly about her waist,
displaying her nakedness
to the camera. The flash
illumines the man's flushed face,
his single-minded lust
as he bends to touch
his tongue to her nipple,

while she, arching her back,
coolly turns to the camera,
her face flooded with light,
as if asking, "So,
what do you think
about the book you're reading
now?"