Cover of Awake

Awake

First published in 1990 and now back in print, this much sought-after collection marked the stunning debut of poet Dorianne Laux. Awake chronicles Laux's coming to terms with a childhood darkened by violence and sexual abuse—a struggle at once to embrace and to forgive the past.

Audience
adult
Length
short · 63 pages

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  1. What Is This Thing Called Love: Poems Shares poetry, poets
  2. Donkey Gospel Shares poetry, poets
  3. Vita Nova Shares poetry, poets
  4. Pink Elephant Shares poetry, poets

“People who read Awake tend to reach for these next.”

  1. I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl: Poems
  2. Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century
  3. Interior with Sudden Joy: Poems
  4. Praise

“If you want more of the same, start with these.”

  1. When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone
  2. Oracle: Poems
  3. Love Is a Stranger
  4. Earthly Measures: Poems

“If it was the poetry that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Ghost Girl
  2. The Painted Bed: Poems
  3. In the Surgical Theatre
  4. Sinners Welcome

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Leaving Maggie Hope
  2. Daddy's Lullaby
  3. Not Marked: Finding Hope and Healing after Sexual Abuse
  4. When Did I Stop Being 20 and Other Injustices: Selected Poems from Single to Mid-Life