Not Just A Personal Ad

by Vittoria Repetto

Showcasing a subtle poet who has preserved her working-class sensibility and taste for the language of daily life while maintaining an acute ear for literary echoes, this powerful collection explores the life of a lesbian Italian American woman. From the first poem where she places her grandparents young and in love right in front of the reader, to "she's doing the dishes" where a tongue-in-cheek delivery eroticizes a simple household chore, the poet casts an unapologetically direct and witty eye on life's complexity and paints unforgettable moments within unforgettable scenes.

Genres: Poetry

84 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Deirdre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vittoria Repetto's book of poems is an exploration of her life on New York's Lower East Side. Her poems sing of love and lust, neediness and loss. Repetto describes herself as "the hardest working guinea butch dyke on the Lower East Side" and her poems prove it.

Each carefully chosen word creates a vivid snapshot of her negotiation with life. Relationships emerge from the page, people are fully drawn and the difficult, occasionally tragic "stuff of life" is presented to readers like a gift.

You'd better be prepared to take these poems a few at a time. If you gobble, you may miss something truly precious.

[Mendi]

I got an email (spam-type) announcement about this book, but I loved every poem, so it didn't feel like spam. Looking forward to getting my hands on it and reading / saying more.