Swallow These

Friedman is the author of the very funny novel Then Again. These poems are like the novel – obnoxious, crisp, full of attitude and autobiographical precision, but also reverent and a tiny bit sad. In “Oops”, the narrator gets to stay at her sister’s place for a week. “I agreed, anxious to have access to the apartment without her around.” In “Art Saves Your Ass,” the narrator and her pals sneak into a townhouse and our protagonist screws the blond, which is notable because she doesn’t “care for blondes.” Lively poems with a point but not a moral and the velocity of a car full of drunk kids looking for a party but more likely to get pulled over by the cops. (Hal Niedzviecki)

poetry chapbook, $5, Elyse Friedman, c/o Proper Tales Press, 99A Wychcrest Ave., Toronto, ON, M6G 3X8

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