Laurence Lieberman

Lieberman's poems vary between amusements and haunting explorations, some delving into familial moments while others explore the reefs off of Florida. These poems in particular sometimes come across as dated, by either material or rhyme, but many of them are still so striking that the collection as a whole is worth visiting and coming back to.

All told, this probably isn't the book I'd recommend as an introduction to Lieberman's work--and it's certainly one of the harder-to-find collections, in any case--but for readers who are already familiar fans of his themes and plays with language, this is worth hunting down.… (més)

Lieberman's poems, as paired with the beautiful art shown in this work, are short journeys into other cultures and visions. Primarily narrative, the poems are dense with rich images and voices from the Caribbean, making each poem a world to explore in itself. This is not a poetry volume which you can read from cover to cover and gain the full effect of, though each time I picked up the book for the poems I believe I flipped through each piece of art at least once. The forms and language here, though, are astounding in their straightforward beauty, and while the work is dense, it is worth delving into for any lover of either ekphrastic poetry or Caribbean art and/or writing.… (més)