The eating hill /

Mitchell deserved to win the Eighth Mountain Poetry Prize--her book was chosen from 500 entries--just for the dramatic monologue "Testament," in which an arsonist whines about being haunted by the woman killed in one of his blazes, "running out / with her hair all on fire, / falling on the cement / like some damn dog." Its matter-of-fact tone captures the everyday horror of urban life better than a dozen polemics, but Mitchell's voice is not limited to such reportage. She is a poet of great emotional versatility: tenderly recalling her father's pride at dressing her in used patent-leather shoes, keening the murder of the Birmingham choirgirls, approaching her husband "as a black feather / that had moved against wind." A must-have for black and women's literature collections. --Pat Monaghan

Selected by Audre Lorde as the winner of the 1989 Eighth Mountain Poetry Prize, this collection examines death and the connections between people: ``And when I came to you, husband,/ I came as a black feather/ that had moved against wind.'' The rich flavor of the South permeates these poems, which are replete with katydids, Mississippi cedar trees, and fireflies. The result is a mixed bag: some poems are eloquent and evocative, but especially when using dialog, Mitchell's voice can falter. Still, such poems as ``Anna After Slavery,'' ``The Blacker the Berry,'' and ``Birmingham, Alabama, 1963'' present a unique perspective, one seldom seen in contemporary poetry.-- Doris Lynch, Oakland P.L., Cal. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.