Blood Sugar

Verses That Hurt: Pleasure and Pain from the POEMFONE Poets Besides letting you know that Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, and Hal Sirowitz are all collected here, I could tell you that this anthology crackles with irreverent energy, defiant audacity, and sybaritic sexuality. But that would be a bit much, wouldn't it? How about this heart...	Liquid Recoil is what Alan Wilder has been doing with himself since leaving Depeche Mode in 1996. Recoil are not a proper band, as such: the name is a flag of convenience under which Wilder arrays a floating roster of collaborators. He is abetted this time by performance poets Nicole Bl...	Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe Compiled by poets who have been at the center of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City, Aloud! showcases the work of the most innovative and accomplished word artists from around America.	Dead Inside	Why Things Burn: Poems For many performance poets, the simple act of writing down the words can kill a poem’s spirit and energy. Not so with Daphne Gottlieb. In Why Things Burn, Gottlieb tackles sexuality, lesbian issues, rape, urban life, and a host of other topics with the same power of her live per...
Bad Behavior Powerful stories of dislocation, longing and desire which depict a disenchanted and rebellious urban fringe generation that is groping for human connection. (Or, more simply put, the angst of people-who-wear-black.)	Trash Trash, Allison's landmark collection, laid the groundwork for her critically acclaimed Bastard Out of Carolina, the National Book Award finalist that was hailed by The New York Times Book Review as "simply stunning...a wonderful work of fiction by a major talent." In addition t...	Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam Bum Rush the Page is a groundbreaking collection, capturing the best new work from the poets who have brought fresh energy, life, and relevance to American poetry.“Here is a democratic orchestration of voices and visions, poets of all ages, ethnicities, and geographic locat...	Revival: Spoken Work from Lollapalooza 94	This Is How It Feels

Ashes and Mud
What happens when you take an aging poetry-slam goddess and replace fake transgression with faltering maturity? The result is a book you discard on an Alphabet City sidewalk, only to regret its effect on the strangers exposed to it. After her Nuyorican Poet's Cafe days, Blackman has frittered and hyped her ink in silly self-parody to the become a premier nonstop yawn-machine. I would rather spray a can of insecticide into my mouth than ponder it further.

Amazing
She writes the way you *wish* you could articulate your feelings: raw, forward and fearless.

The one and only high and low.
Blood Sugar is simply amazing. Nicole Blackman will make you think, cry, smile, and laugh all within one poem. Well, it works like that for me anyway. She doesn't filter things, and for some reason, I actually laugh at some of the things she writes. I love how forward, how honest, how dark, how happy they are. Her work can accomplish all of this at once. She's a one of a kind. I love about 90% of the writings in the book, and the others are still worth reading. My favorites include "The Ambitions are", "Missing Natalie", and "Victim". If you enjoy any sort of creative, and simply amazing writing, I'd recommend Blood Sugar. So far, everyone I know has loved it.

Best book of poetry ever.
In Blood Sugar by Nicole Blackman there are boundaries we cross as women everyday: mother, daughter, lover, professional and friend. Blood Sugar explores the cruel, the tragic, and humorous side of balancing power, femininity, motherhood and sexuality. Nicole Blackman's compilation of poetry illustrates a world of the modern misfit or the girl that doesn't quite follow the etiquette of society. She gives a voice to a new generation of women and girls that refused to be silenced. She gives a voice to anyone who has been hurt, betrayed, or just different. While reading her book there are times when her words feel like a blow to the stomach, or a calm before a storm. There are no details spared, no emotional stone left unturned. In her poem Brooklyn, Nicole Blackman eloquently describes how the aftermath of a former relationship can affect a present one, "and I don't care what you are because I'll make you into whatever I need." She describes how necessity affects desire. In the poem Daughter, Nicole Blackman writes, "one Day I'll give birth to a tiny baby girl and when she's born she'll scream and I'll tell her to never stop." Already she is empowering her hypothetical daughter. Already she is influencing the reader's perception on raising a daughter in today's society. One of her most potent poems, The God Of Sleep, depicts the uncomfortable comfort in a one-night stand with someone you know. One of the most important lines written in this book pertains to this poem: "Girls have to go somewhere dangerous every now and then just so they know they can find their way home." This excerpt from the poem The God Of Sleep is the essential message of Blood Sugar... to find your way home metaphorical or not. This book is written for anyone who wants find themselves in the chaos of everyday life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that is willing to explore emotional and physical pain on higher levels. Anyone that is willing to explore the darker side of life, of love and of sex. This book is for more than just lovers of poetry. This is for people who want to expand the horizons of contemporary poetry. This book is a guide for anyone who wants to understand the healing power of confession, sin, revenge, lust, and chaos. http://www.lakecitycc.edu/howl/howl06/staff/Sarahbookreview.html

Pulpy
After enjoying Nicole Blackman's work with Golden Palominos, I was disappointed by this collection. Without her sexy voice to distract you from what she's actually saying, the flaws of Nicole's writing are brought to the fore, and she doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. Be advised that Blackman is definitely not literary, and her use of language is quite unsophisticated (I couldn't shake the thought that my 17-year-old friend produces better, quirkier work than this.) Blackman milks well-worn scenarios (abduction by a crazed man, getting abused by men as a rites of passage, Anorexia etc) but she adds nothing to the dialogue about these subjects. She represents the female experience accurately enough, and I did find myself relating to much of the terrain she explores, such as in her poem 'Dark Daughter' (about a depressed girl whose mother misunderstands her), but she just doesn't have an original take on this stuff. Also, her motifs (stars, pearls, diamonds, blood, guns etc), seem to me merely decorative; surface. Nicole Blackman seems to want to be the spokesperson for the urban underworld -- and she succeeds. Pop culture references abound, and the physical world is prioritised. Most of these poems don't resonate, and are at times heavy-handed. They tackle huge subjects like rape, incest, the loss of a twin, etc, and while very punchy and high-impact, they ultimately remind the reader of a slew of bad television crime shows, and various other low-brow gothic media. The nuances of Nicole's work are lost when limited to the written word, which is a shame, because pieces like 'Thirst' and 'Drown' work well when backgrounded by surreal music. I believe that Nicole Blackman's craft is editing -- and it shows. This stuff is pared down, stark, and as bloody as the cover would indicate. Maybe it's just not my thing. I'd recommend this to a teenage girl, but if you're older than that, you may require something more layered.