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Title: What is poetry?
Review: Claribel Alegria, Sorrow (Curbstone Press, 1999)Sorrow, a book of poems lamenting the death of Alegria's husband, is the kind of thing that, in a perfect world, would be immune to criticism. But, as Wilde so forthrightly put it, "all bad poetry is sincere." This is no exception. The poems in this collection are barely poems at all, but more often are simply thoughts chopped up into lines to make them appear poetic. "Show, don't tell" has left the building for this one, folks."I don't want eternityit overwhelms meI want to be alivewhile I livewithout thinkingabout whyI live..."("I Don't Want Eternity")There are a few pieces here where Alegria still seems to grasp the essence of poetry (and translator Carolyn Forche seizes on two of them in her introduction, the best part of the book), but they are in the minority here. This one didn't work for me at all. **
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