Inside the Blood Factory

by Diane Wakoski

Very RARE edition!! UNIQUE offer!! Don’t wait to be OWNER of this special piece of HISTORY!!!

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1968

About the author

Wakoski is an American poet who is primarily associated with the deep image poets such as Jerome Rothenberg, Robert Kelly, and Clayton Eshleman. Throughout her work she uses legends, myth and fairy tales to create a deeply personal mythology.

She is best known for a series of poems collectively known as "The Motorcycle Betrayal Poems."

Wakoski was given the William Carlos Williams Award for her "Emerald Ice: Selected Poetry 1962-1987."

Reviews

[Jake Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first beat poet. Reads like a jazz club open mic satire?

Is it your blood I carry in a test tube,
my arm,
to let fall, crack, and spill on the sidewalk

[Gary Shea]

For poetry, this work is coherent, and all the wording is correct. It's on the dark side. Too much for me. What else? There's more than enough blood. However, it is definitely feminist enough. No rating - I have to recuse myself. When I was a sophomore, for a few weeks in September I attended Wakoski's poetry writing class at UW Madison where she served as Poet in Residence.

[Coles]

really not her best work

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visionary, groundbreaking, almost perfect poetry.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I confess, I have never really taken Diane Wakoski's poetry very seriously. Perhaps this is because the anthologies in which I read it reduced her work to a few of the mournful poems about her father/family conflicts, or pieces that seem vaguely political in nature.

This book is full of creativity and heart. Its unbridled forms run wild and free over the page, reminding me of both the sincerity of ordinary conversation and the harsh, statement oriented world of a spoken word performace. I think this writing marks the point in American literature in which modern free verse comes into its own: open, even explosive, experimental and emotional. I wonder if the poems of Sharon Olds could have existed without Wakoski's contribution to the genre?

I also confess to getting a sense of deep personal satisfaction from this book; I thought I was the only one who'd written about the astrological signifcance of the days of the week, or been enthralled by the symbology of the Tarot. I want these selections to be in the anthologies, too.

[Deb Huston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the great fortune to study with Ms. Wakoski as a poetry student at Simon's Rock College, MA. She was a visiting poet to Robert Hahn's class and I was changed forever by her perspective, her intelligence and her talent. I own almost every one of her books and love them all, equally.

In 2011, I saw her read at the Beyond Baroque Gallery in Venice, CA. I brought all her books with me and she signed her newest collection, The Diamond Dog while we had a brief but fun chat about her time with us at SR. Her reading that night as always was fabulous.

If you want to understand the emergence and influence of the Beat poets of the 60's, you have to read Diane Wakoski. She is meticulous, unsparing and unapologetic. She is a master poet, not to be missed.

Some of her awards:

William Carlos Williams Award for her book Emerald Ice.
Guggenheim Foundation grant
National Endowment for the Arts grant
Fulbright Grant

[Jeffrey Bumiller · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a huge disappointment. I have had this book on my shelf for as long as I can remember (I have no idea where it came from.) It's a cool looking edition from 1968, yellowing pages, smells great, like an old book should. So, I finally got around to reading it, and I was excited about it especially after finding out that Wakoski lived with La Monte Young in New York in the 1960's.

Unfortunately, there was almost nothing gripping about these poems. They were structurally boring, almost sloppy, and certainly uninteresting. Some of these poems have absolutely cringe inducing lines like, "No one has loved me with out trying to destroy me/There is no part of me that is not armoured,/there is no moment when I am not expecting attack,/there is no one I trust/there is no love left in me that is not a wildflower."
Ugh, jeez.

[Allison Goldstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the first poetry book that really changed me as a person. I received it from an aunt who knew I had an interest in poetry and I just devoured every gorgeous syllable. Beauty and pain and lonliness but not without hope. It's hard to describe but infinitely wonderful.

[Lalamich · Rating 3 out of 5]

maybe i'm just in love with her, but another good one. not as good as motorcycle betrayal poems, but still good.

[Pat Settegast · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book... particularly its tone and use of memoir. It even has a series of poems dedicate to the Tarot... Cool!

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

My third & final read for national poetry month.