Pretty Young Thing: Poems

by Danielle Pafunda

Pretty Young Thing documents an unnamed young woman’s life in a book of hours “slit like an electric cord, splintered, and fused to the pavement,” in a voice that is by turns frank, demure, sweet, sultry, determined, passive, angry, and resigned. Constructed as a sequence of mostly untitled poems, the fractured narrative of this innovative debut traces the physical, historical, and emotional terrain of female sexuality in lyric monologues both interior and dramatic. With these darkly powerful poems, Danielle Pafunda flips the notion of feminine innocence on its back, showing it's not as pure as people imagine.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2005

Reviews

[Richard]

Danielle Pafunda’s Pretty Young Thing is a sexy, darkly feminine debut wrenched by the extremes of ecstasy and illness, a story indelibly tattooed on the body and psyche of the unnamed lead character who manages to insinuate herself as the reader’s through-the-looking-glass half-sister or twin. Pretty Young Thing documents this young woman’s life in a book of hours “slit like an electric cord, splintered, and fused to the pavement,” in a voice that’s frank, demure, sweet, sultry, determined, passive, angry, and resigned by turns. Constructed as a sequence of mostly untitled poems, the fractured narrative moves in and out of time and location, creating an emotional autobiography in lyric monologues both interior and dramatic, all delivered in an oddly matter-of-fact tone. In her innovative debut, Pafunda flips our notion of innocence on its back and rubs its belly until it confesses it’s not as pure as we’ve always imagined it to be.

[Juliet · Rating 5 out of 5]

"...A needle came with its own empty
brain. They told me to make a fist. They told me to."

Very good.

A lot of it makes me uncomfortable borderline queasy which is a poetry characteristic I really like. A little of it even makes me feel dirty, or maybe more specifically soiled.

It's somewhat less disjointed and abstract than 'My Zorba'. Somewhat less experimental and associative.

But it's still pretty associative and functions with its own logic, rather than any kind of standard, linear, or literal logic.

Also very pussycentric.

The final section of the book was less pussycentric and seemed weaker to me, but that doesn't necessarily mean it WAS weaker; maybe it just didn't resonate as well with my personal sensibilities.

Most of it was great, though, sometimes even to the point of provoking a physical response--plus it inspired me to start writing a poem about my childhood horror of hospitals (a horror that has seeped into my present day), which I am now working on.

[Rauan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a bit cutesy, but at its best: disembodied, psychotic, wonderful...

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good, even made me laugh at times. I wouldn't call them all prose poems, as another reviewer here has claimed. Instead I will agree with another review in noting that the book itself, speaking about the physical copy, is not terribly well constructed. It's a shame, because Soft Skull has put out some pretty good titles, and I can't remember them looking so shoddy.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pafunda runs lapetitezine.com, which is fun.