Black Box

Be the first to write a review
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up in Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Paperback
$11.79
BN.com price
$15.00 List Price (Save 21%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$1.00
$15.00 List Price (Save 93%)
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
All (9)  
Used (6)  
New (3)  

Overview

“Belieu’s poems use a vernacular of their own to suggest a noir world of erotic innuendo and red lights waiting to be run.”—Neon

Black Box is a raw, intense book, fueled by a devastating infidelity. With her marriage shattered, Erin Belieu sifts the wreckage for the black box, the record of disaster. Propelled by a blistering and clarifying rage, she composed at fever pitch and produced riveting, unforgettable ...

See more details below
Sending request ...

More About This Book

Overview

“Belieu’s poems use a vernacular of their own to suggest a noir world of erotic innuendo and red lights waiting to be run.”—Neon

Black Box is a raw, intense book, fueled by a devastating infidelity. With her marriage shattered, Erin Belieu sifts the wreckage for the black box, the record of disaster. Propelled by a blistering and clarifying rage, she composed at fever pitch and produced riveting, unforgettable poems, such as the ten-part sequence “In the Red Dress I Wear to Your Funeral”:

I root through your remains,
looking for the black box. Nothing left
but glossy chunks, a pimp’s platinum
tooth clanking inside the urn. I play you
over and over, my beloved conspiracy,
my personal Zapruder film—look. . .

When Belieu was invited by the Poetry Foundation to keep a public journal on their new website, readers responded to the Black Box poems, calling them “dark, twisted, disturbed, and disturbing” and Belieu a “frightening genius.” All true.

Editorial Reviews

Eric McHenry
Antipathy is Belieu's muse. Even her celebratory poems celebrate acts of defiance…Belieu is scrupulous enough to find room in her poems both for blind rage and a recognition of rage's blindness.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
Titled after the flight-data recording devices analyzed in plane-crash investigations, Belieu's forceful third collection examines the wreckage of interpersonal disaster, chiefly a nasty marital breakup: "there wasn't a ribald// particular I didn't come to know:// the yoga instructress on Valentine's Eve,/ the xeroxed erotica files// arranged by body part." The poems' formal composure belies an anger so thoroughgoing it threatens at times to become simplistic ("This day's so blue, so pretty, let's smash it under glass"), but an equally relentless black humor shows the poet knows she's acting out. Belieu (One Above, One Below, 2000) is also interested in how emotional extremity makes shameless performers of us all, an observation dramatized in the book's astonishing centerpiece, the longer poem "In the Red Dress I Wear to Your Funeral." Here the poet imagines a broken marriage as a car crash you only half survive, unleashing a fury so spectacular it takes on the dimensions of myth: "I lift my scarlet tail above your grave/ and let the idiot villagers take me/ in torchlight/ one by one by one by one...." (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Library Journal
With echoes of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, the free verse and prose poems in Belieu's latest focus on love and death. When Belieu finds the fine point where the two meet, she is capable of elegant imagery as in these lines: "Teach me to survive you/ Tell me, what kind/ won't choose these awful flowers?/ Who refuses this bleating, urgent pink?" But often this collection settles for less. Although "Epithalamion," which is reminiscent of Hughes's "Crow," captures the British poet's rhythm, it doesn't have the power of his imagery. Nor does the tender though coarse poem, "The Birthmark," for Belieu's son (suggestive of Plath's "Ariel") ever rise to the height of its predecessor. Self-absorbed, heavy with sexual innuendoes, many of these poems take themselves too seriously, which limits their effectiveness and diminishes their universality. As in Belieu's prize-winning Infanta, the best work here is edgy, unsentimental, and unsparing. Alliteration-driven, these poems are lighthearted with a dark edge-conversational until Belieu pulls the rug out from under the line with the acerbic but always right observation. Suitable for larger public libraries.-Diane Scharper, Towson Univ., MD Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781556592515
  • Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
  • Publication date: 10/1/2006
  • Pages: 80
  • Sales rank: 731,222
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 7.50 (h) x 0.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Erin Belieu was born and raised in Nebraska and educated at the University of Nebraska, Ohio State, and Boston University. She is the author of three collections of poetry. Her debut, Infanta, was selected for the National Poetry Series and named one of the best books of that year by Library Journal, the National Book Critics' Circle, and Washington Post.

Table of Contents

Of the poet's youth 3
Epithalamion 7
The birthmark 9
Last trip of the island 12
After reading that the Milky Way is devouring the galaxy of Sagittarius 14
I heart your dog's head 16
To an Englishman, lost in Florida 19
In ecstasy 21
The last of the gentleman heartbreakers 25
In the graveyard 27
One for my baby 28
Below zero 31
Liar's karma 34
Pity 36
Shooting range 38
In the red dress I wear to your funeral 41
At least 63

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
( 0 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit