Reviews

In these poems Lorde reveals a new maturity through language denser and richer than she has used previously. The anger she expresses comes from an awareness of sufferingboth current, as in a poem about Grenada (``Equal Opportunity''), and past, as in the poem ``This Urn Contains Earth from German Concentration Camps''but is balanced by a tenderness born of love (``Outlines,'' ``Mawu''). Though she rejects the romanticized past she once emphasized to speak of daily struggle in, for example, South Africa, the heart of the present volume lies in the poet's making peace with herself``one woman harvesting all I have ever been/ lights up my sky like stars''and letting go of ``what is not possible.'' Recommended. Joyce Nower, Academic Skills Ctr., San Diego State Univ.