I Want to Be Once
Poems that take a poignant look at societal issues and contemporary American topics, such as working-class life and twenty-first century war.

In I Want to Be Once, M. L. Liebler approaches current events with a journalistic eye and a poet's response. Part autobiographical, part commentary, the lines of Liebler's poems come hard-hitting, but not without moments of great tenderness and humanity.

Ordered into three sections, I Want To Be Once provides readers with a look into the author's personal life, as well as our collective history as a nation vis-a-vis the American media. The first section, called "American Life," captures the experience of coming of age in working-class 1960s America and helps to paint the picture of Liebler's early political involvement. The poems in the second section, "American War," focus on the author's cultural work in Afghanistan for the U.S. State Department; Liebler successfully captures the sad realities and fleeting stability of everyday life in Kabul, Jalalabad, and Kandahar. In the final section, "American Psalms," the short, satirical poems muse on present-day American society, culture, and the arts. In these poems, Liebler remarks on everything from public education to public radio to Russia's feminist punk rock protest group Pussy Riot and more.

The poems in I Want to Be Once are emotionally grounding but punctuated with a humor that keeps things in perspective. Readers with an interest in poetry and social commentary will be drawn to this engaging collection.

1122672038
I Want to Be Once
Poems that take a poignant look at societal issues and contemporary American topics, such as working-class life and twenty-first century war.

In I Want to Be Once, M. L. Liebler approaches current events with a journalistic eye and a poet's response. Part autobiographical, part commentary, the lines of Liebler's poems come hard-hitting, but not without moments of great tenderness and humanity.

Ordered into three sections, I Want To Be Once provides readers with a look into the author's personal life, as well as our collective history as a nation vis-a-vis the American media. The first section, called "American Life," captures the experience of coming of age in working-class 1960s America and helps to paint the picture of Liebler's early political involvement. The poems in the second section, "American War," focus on the author's cultural work in Afghanistan for the U.S. State Department; Liebler successfully captures the sad realities and fleeting stability of everyday life in Kabul, Jalalabad, and Kandahar. In the final section, "American Psalms," the short, satirical poems muse on present-day American society, culture, and the arts. In these poems, Liebler remarks on everything from public education to public radio to Russia's feminist punk rock protest group Pussy Riot and more.

The poems in I Want to Be Once are emotionally grounding but punctuated with a humor that keeps things in perspective. Readers with an interest in poetry and social commentary will be drawn to this engaging collection.

17.99 In Stock
I Want to Be Once

I Want to Be Once

by M. L. Liebler
I Want to Be Once

I Want to Be Once

by M. L. Liebler

eBook

$17.99 

Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers

LEND ME® See Details

Overview

Poems that take a poignant look at societal issues and contemporary American topics, such as working-class life and twenty-first century war.

In I Want to Be Once, M. L. Liebler approaches current events with a journalistic eye and a poet's response. Part autobiographical, part commentary, the lines of Liebler's poems come hard-hitting, but not without moments of great tenderness and humanity.

Ordered into three sections, I Want To Be Once provides readers with a look into the author's personal life, as well as our collective history as a nation vis-a-vis the American media. The first section, called "American Life," captures the experience of coming of age in working-class 1960s America and helps to paint the picture of Liebler's early political involvement. The poems in the second section, "American War," focus on the author's cultural work in Afghanistan for the U.S. State Department; Liebler successfully captures the sad realities and fleeting stability of everyday life in Kabul, Jalalabad, and Kandahar. In the final section, "American Psalms," the short, satirical poems muse on present-day American society, culture, and the arts. In these poems, Liebler remarks on everything from public education to public radio to Russia's feminist punk rock protest group Pussy Riot and more.

The poems in I Want to Be Once are emotionally grounding but punctuated with a humor that keeps things in perspective. Readers with an interest in poetry and social commentary will be drawn to this engaging collection.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780814342039
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Publication date: 04/04/2016
Series: Made in Michigan Writers Series
Sold by: Bookwire
Format: eBook
Pages: 314
File size: 4 MB

About the Author

M. L. Liebler is an award-winning poet, literary arts activist, and professor. He is the author of several books of poetry, including Wide Awake in Someone Else’s Dream (Wayne State University Press, 2008), and an editor of the anthology Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams. He is also co-editor of Bob Seger's House and Other Stories (Wayne State University Press, 2016). He has taught at Wayne State University since 1980.

What People are Saying About This

Diane Wakoski of Bay of Angels

The poems in I Want to Be Once are vibrant with M. L. Liebler's attempt to tie together all the threads of his Detroit factory grandparents, his fishing in Michigan rivers and Cass Corridor Arts memories, his adoration of languages fueled by travel, and in fact the politics of everyday life from which his vision of himself is made. These poems are honestly American and entirely without guile–rare, simple, truthful.

Jan Beatty of the Switching/Yard

From the factories of Detroit to the deserts of Kandahar to the streets of Liverpool, M.L. Liebler brings a true voice of the American 60s—still pure with peace and love, still speaking in the lexicon of spirit and soul. And sure, Liebler takes us into the dark: Last night/I was awake/Counting fish/Inside my blood. He knows the private and public war, he wants to redesign America. In this book, he proves the existence of God: Watermelon,/ Beatles,/And the Infield Fly Rule. Liebler is the real thing—buy this book!

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews