Black Box
Sign in to keep track of books you’ve read and want to read.
"Belieu's poems use a vernacular of their own to suggest a noir world of erotic innuendo and red lights waiting to be run."—Neon
Read more
Black Boxis a raw, intense book, fueled by a devastating infidelity. With her marriage shattered, Erin Belieu sifts the wreckage for the black box, the record of disaster. Propelled by a blistering and clarifying rage, she composed at fever pitch and produced riveting, unforgettable poems, such as the ten-part sequence "In the Red Dress I Wear to Your Funeral":
I root through your remains,
looking for the black box. Nothing left
but glossy chunks, a pimp's platinum
tooth clanking inside the urn. I play you
over and over, my beloved conspiracy,
my personal Zapruder film—look. . .
When Belieu was invited by the Poetry Foundation to keep a public journal on their new website, readers responded to the Black Boxpoems, calling them "dark, twisted, disturbed, and disturbing" and Belieu a "frightening genius." All true.
Liked Black Box? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked Black Box. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
