Once

I bought this book because it had the poem "So at last we come to Freud." in it. It is my favorite poem of hers, but I found many more poems of hers just as good if not better She is a power house of words. I just think she is a classic who will be read 300 hundred years from now. Hopefully they will teach her out new schools along with Shakespeare, Dickens, Angela Maya, Eagar Allen Poe and Mark Twain, Orwell just to name a few that should be taught in school

Great

It is not her best work

The back cover of "Once" notes that this was Alice Walker's first volume of poetry; the text has a copyright date of 1968. This volume contains poems about the Civil Rights movement in the United States, love, despair, and other topics. Particularly interesting is a sequence of poems describing Africa as seen through the eyes of an African-American.Walker's poems are written in a clear, smooth, often striking language. Some standout pieces are as follows. "African Images": a sequence of 45 haiku-like stanzas. "Karamojans": an ironic and tragic portrait of the "proud people" of the title. The title poem: illuminates the ugliness of American racism and the beauty of those who stand against it. "Compulsory Chapel": shows a welcome touch of dry humor. "Mornings / of an impossible love": a sequence of prose poems. "Johann": a striking, visually evocative poem that explores the possibility of interracial love.I have great admiration for Walker's skill as a novelist and essayist. "Once" shows her to also be a poet of sensitivity and grace.

I'm a huge fan, so I'm always biased. Lol. I have read these poems multiple times, but still find them just a stimulating as the first time.

Both me and my friend have bought copies of this book. The spines have broken on both.