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Title: Awful
Review: This is truly one of the worst books of poems I have read this year. With the exception of a handful of poems, this book was not ready for publication much less to win the Bakeless Prize. The faux intelligence, the vapid imitations, the lifeless and lackluster lines: a book in need of serious editing. I refuse to go on and on like others have done here. Basically, if Grotz hadn't studied with Komunyakaa (the judge of the contest), and if she hadn't been a Bread Loaf fixture for over five years, she would never have won this contest. Every famous poet in America can annoint this book, but it doesn't change the fact readers will not be duped. Grotz, a would-be Empress, is wearing no clothes.
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