One Girl Babylon

by Ruth Ellen Kocher

Poetry. African-American Studies. "This versatile poet blinks at nothing under thestars. Speaking and singing in the many voices and key signatures of poetry,our primal human language, Kocher shines and sheds visible and audiblelight" - Al Young.

Genres: Poetry

73 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Ted Manahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many powerful and meticulously crafted images, but usually I couldn't figure out what the poems were actually saying.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ruth Ellen Kocher’s collection of poetry One Girl Babylon is a collection of cleverly organized, world-weary poems. It was tiring to read through, and I’d almost give up, but then there would be a shining moment of image and metaphor, and I’d keep reading. I think this technique was purposeful, as Kocher uses a lot of religious language and imagery, and I think she was trying to get me to see the tedium of our world and the hope of heaven and writing. Unfortunately, while reading, instead of thinking of my salvation, I just kept thinking of Hoagland’s concept of “self-consciousness”—how, when “holding a microscope up to language, to meaning itself, there is danger of falling through, down into the infinite space between words.” Although Kocher has beautiful moments and fine poems, the whole collection is just a little over-thought for me—between the extreme cerebral nature of many of the poems and the amount of knowledge (especially religious knowledge) that I had to bring to the poems in order to feel like I really understood them, I just had to work a little too hard to really enjoy the poetry.

Clearly, a poet who yokes together Caravaggio, John the Baptist, Audre Lorde, original sin, the creation story of Genesis, angels, more original sin, Interstate 81, Gertrude Stein, the process of getting a doctorate, African-American hair products, even more original sin, Narcissus, landmines, more Caravaggio, baroque painting in general, Jezebel from the book of Kings, the process of making stained glass, a fair amount of Latin, Milton, and Archimedes is a talented poet (and that's only in the first 34 pages!), but I'm just not interested in thinking that hard.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

She's my friend and a great poet to boot!