Nikki Wilkinson: Nikki Wilkinson is a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla. She has studied with the poets Sharon Olds, Carolyn Forche, Robert Creeley and the late Allen Ginsberg.
This is a collection of small canvas writings, everything from sudden fictions to dramatic monologues to poems that employ the Burroughs' cut-up technique. There are also some award-winners set on the island of Oahu, such as “Aloha, Lili'uokalani,” a bluesy lament to Hawaii's last reigning monarch. There's a sexy, seductive quality to a lot of the poetry, such as “Love in the Library” and “Shiatsu” and even “Love From a Distance.” The book won the 2003 San Diego Book Award for Poetry but that's not why I like it. It's the varied forms that do it for me and I think this is a great primer/intro to poetry.
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