M-80

by Jim Daniels

Book Overview

n M-80, his third book of poems, Jim Daniels explores the sharp edges of urban life. His characters struggle for survival in the face of rising urban violence, racial tension, and a crumbling economy. The collection is named for one of the most dangerous fireworks found on city streets - an apt metaphor for an urban world where the fuse is always lit.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822954974
• ISBN13: 9780822954972
• Release Date: August 1993
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Some of the topics really touch home.

After reading a few poems by Jim Daniels, I became curious as to his motivation and if the poems reflected his personal experiences. My interpretive writing teacher, Boyd C. Allen, was able to have him speak to my class. After he read a few of his digger poems, someone asked if digger was a real person. Jim Daniels replied, "mostly." He told us that he composed digger from many people he knew and from many personal experiences, but where it sounds really good, that is where Jim Daniels would improvise and exaggerate his story a bit to make it sound better. For the most part, his poems were written from personal experiences, or at least what he remembers from them. That is what makes his poems so real and great. He is showing that he is just one of us.

A great depiction of black life in Detroit.

Actually, reading this book of poems has me asking the question; Is Mr Daniels using his personal experience about his black life in Pittsburg?