Underground

by Corrinne Hales

Poetry. Hales writes of the extraordinary in ordinary lives, of what people see, hear, and do when things are not as they expected—when life walks up to you face-to-face, and waits for you to say the first word and make the first move. T.R. Hummer says of her work, "Corrinne Hales's poetry is straightforward and clear, adopting a plain style which is both appropriate and deceptive. It leads us to understand things we might prefer to ignore; it instructs us in examining the foundations of what we believe and to see where they are weak; it invites us to walk in places where the ground gives way beneath us."

60 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1986

Reviews

[Judi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Im not a big fan of her writing style. For me, poetry should read like poetry. All the periods in the middle of a line...there's no fluidity. I find it maddening. And then you have the author's subjects. The poem about her and her brother fashioning a childs body out of old clothes and then placing the body on the railroad tracks, watching as the conductor gets off the train and falls to his knees sobbing, thinking he'd just killed someone. I will admit to some of the earlier poems in the book soured me to the rest of the book. Just simply not my cup of tea.

[Richard Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book very much. I grew up in the same town as the author and shared many of the same experiences. So this one resonated with me more than it would with an general reader.