Joyce Carol Oates is one of the best-known writers in America today. Her recent novel Them won the National Book Award, and two of her other novels have been nominated for the award.
Anonymous Sins and Other Poems, her first published collection of poetry, represents a distinctive new voice and will evoke a strong response from the discerning reader.
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A wood breaks to immense flower blossoms.The blossoms break to small, fragrant faces.Above their careful eyes lift a flock of birdsto whom the air is water, layered air,the texture of clouds lowered.
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(@lsupress, 1 January 1969, hardback, 64 pages, bought from @AmazonUK)
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I've read Anonymous Sins & Other Poems but it was a long time ago and I barely remember it. I enjoy Oates's poetry as much as her fiction, more so for some of her later poetry collections. This is her first. It's out of print now. I enjoyed this collection of poems a lot. Oates's incredible use of language used in her fiction is prevalent in these poems. The themes are both universal and personal. I enjoyed all of the poems especially Three Dances of Death, Of The Violence of Self-Death, Marriage, Women in Love and the title poem. I'd recommend this.