Slant Six

By Erin Belieu

Belieu is one of the poets that Copper Canyon has been invested in since the beginning of her career

Fourth Belieu book published by Copper Canyon

Belieu’s debut volume was selected the Washington Post Book World as one of the top 5 poetry books of the year

Belieu’s last book was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist

Her work has appeared in many major publications including New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic Monthly

Belieu has taught hundreds of students Washington University, Boston University, Kenyon College, Ohio University, and numerous writing workshops… she is currently teaching at Florida State University.

Belieu co-founded VIDA, which consistently makes waves in the literary world

• Language: English
• Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
• Release date: Jun 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781619321267

Book preview

SOMEONE ASKS, WHAT MAKES THIS POEM AMERICAN?

And I answer by driving around, which seems

to me the most American of activities, up there

with waving the incendiary dandelion of sparklers

or eating potato salad with green specks of relish,

the German kind, salad of immigrants, of all

the strange, pickled things we carry

over from other places, like we did on Easter

mornings in Nebraska, stuffing our Sunday

shoes full of straw so that either Jesus

or the Easter Bunny could leave us small,

bullet-shaped candies in honor of what, I was

never quite sure. Where do such customs

come from? Everywhere!

Americanness is everywhere,

wedged into everything, is best when driving

around a frowsy Gulf Coast city with its terrific

mini-marts like Bill’s, the very best of all marts!

UN of toasted boat rats and boys from the

Reviews for Slant Six

[greeniezona · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book makes me think of my college class on Multiculturalism, which I didn't get, not really, not until years later. Standing there with a copy of Margaret Atwood's Good Bones, proclaiming "this is my culture," the professor asking me "what culture is that?' but I don't know I don't know I don't know. Patiently, she starts giving me words, "white, middle-class, college educated..."

Now I have more words, but still, mostly, I clutch this book in my hands and say "this is my culture." Recognizing myself in "Poem of Philosophical and Parenting Conundrums Written in an Election Year," bracing myself against feeling exactly like "When at a Certain Party in NYC" this fall, and then, of course, "Someone Asks, What Makes This Poem American?" which seems itself to be an answer to that question all those years ago in class, "what culture is that?"

These are poems of everyday life and familiarity and mine.