The Body Eclectic

Publishers Weekly

The Body Eclectic: An Anthology of Poems, edited by Patrice Vecchione, explores the human body from the inside out with more than 70 poems, beginning with an excerpt from Walt Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric" and including such poets as Pablo Neruda, Diane Ackerman, May Swenson and Sherman Alexie, and covering everything from the body as a whole to the penis, the hands, or vagina in particular. Brief biographies of the contributors conclude the volume. (May) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

This wonderful, wide-ranging collection of poetry for young-adult readers takes as its subject the human body: faces, hair, hands, fingernails, fat, scars, elbows, skin, breasts, penises, vaginas, pimples, feet. How on earth did Vecchione find all these magnificently varied poems? Represented here are classic authors such as Shakespeare, Sir Philip Sidney, Lord Byron, Thomas Hardy, Walt Whitman, and Virginia Woolf, as well as an amazing collection of newer voices drawn from all cultures: Chicana poet Sandra Cisneros, Native-American poet Sherman Alexie, African-American poet William J. Harris, Chicksaw poet Linda Hogan, Tamil poet A. K. Ramanujan, Vietnamese poet Van Hanh, and so many more. Most of the poems are triumphant hymns to the beauty of the body in all its manifestations, such as Lucile Clifton's sassy "homage to my hips" ("these hips are big hips... these hips are mighty hips. these hips are magic hips") and Minnie Bruce Pratt's comical exploration of the sexual potential of elbows. Some explore the darker side of bodies—the self-loathing of a fat girl in Lyn Lifshin's "Fat," or the lingering pain of abuse, in Claire Braz-Valentine's "Listen to Our Voices." Vecchione includes a richly detailed section of biographical notes on each author, from which the reader learns that Sherman Alexie's literary influences include the Brady Bunch, and that Paul Laurence Dunbar sold copies of his first book for a dollar to people riding on the elevator he operated. An absolutely splendid collection. 2002, Henry Holt,
— Claudia Mills

VOYA

More than seventy selections celebrate the body in yet another of Vecchione's great anthologies for teens. Elbows, breasts, tattoos, erections, bones, blood, and pimples all receive their due in these lyric and mostly free-verse poems. Vecchione, also a poet and anthologist for adults, brings a fantastic range of contemporary poets to a teen audience. Lyn Lifshin, Steve Kowit, Ruth Schwartz, Reginald Gibbons, Marie Howe, Erin Belieu, Cornelius Eady, Marc Doty, and Li-Young Lee are among the well-known poets for adults who are rarely anthologized for teens. They join favorites of various periods such as Gary Soto, Lucille Clifton, William Stafford, Pablo Neruda, Walt Whitman, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Shakespeare. A small handful of prose selections from works including Lewis Carroll's Adventures in Wonderland, Virginia Woolf's Orlando, and Thomas Hardy's The Woodlanders, feel out of place for their format and lack of context, although their pertinence to the subject is clear. Vecchione's previous collections for teens are Whisper and Shout (Cricket Books, 2002) and Truth and Lies (Henry Holt, 2001/VOYA February 2001). Involved readers will appreciate the biographical notes and suggested reading that she includes for each poet at the end. For classroom use, but even better, for endless browsing, this book should be well used in any library collection. Further Reading. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2002, Henry Holt, 192p,
— Nina Lindsay

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-This well-organized anthology, casting a net to include William Shakespeare and Shel Silverstein as well as Native American anthems, adapts its title, of course, from Walt Whitman's poem. Yet it goes further than "singing the body electric." It embraces and tries to understand the body "eclectic," the parts and pieces so often forgotten, overlooked, or, embarrassingly, misunderstood. Readers encounter Gary Soto's brilliant recollections of his youth, his Mexican brownness and black hair. Paul Laurence Dunbar examines our faces, or rather the masks that we all wear. Shel Silverstein, in his inimitable way, discusses the "unscratchable itch," while Pablo Neruda discourses on semen. Pimples are seen as "unchoreographed gibberish," and the perils and joys of blood, tears, tattoos, skin, and even vaginas are laid bare. Addressing an interesting and challenging topic, this title succeeds in exposing human flaws and triumphs-opening teens' eyes to their physical being, the one they see every day but rarely really see.-Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An anthology usually stands or falls on the strength of its theme and the perspicacity of its editor's choices: this one mostly stands. Vecchione has taken the body in all of its myriad aspects, and has chosen poetry as old as Anonymous ("Dem Bones") and as new as Gary Soto ("Black Hair"). The collection begins, as it must, with Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric," and continues through erotic, esoteric, direct, and derisive: body parts, and body image. Donald Hall's "Eating the Pig" is a marvelous and tender evocation of hunger, satiety, and respect for eating another living creature; Marie Howe's "The Kiss" touches the axis of eroticism and loss with swooning heart's ease. Some pieces of prose that read lyrically are included: a brief passage from Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face almost stops the heart in its honesty. Nail-biting (Shel Silverstein), elbows (Minnie Bruce Pratt), and tattoos (Mark Doty) all take the stage, then bowing out to let Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty" and Shakespeare on Olivia's face from Twelfth Night enter. Alice Walker and Sherman Alexie, Sandra Cisneros and Sir Philip Sidney, all celebrate bodies and what we can do with them. The hook will lure teens in; the poetry will make them stay. (biographical notes with bibliography) (Poetry. YA)