Ostinato Vamps - Pitt Poetry Series Author:Wanda Coleman "A poet whose angry and extravagant music, so far beyond baroque, has been making itself heard across the divide between West Coast and East, establishment and margins, slams and seminars, across the too-American rift among races and genders (there are more than two of each) for two decades."-From the jury's citation for the Lenore Marshall Poet... more »ry Prize Ostinato Vamps continues and enlarges the traits that have been Wanda Coleman's hallmark for more than three decades: a fierce adherence to the truth and a language so musical one can almost hear the blues line beneath her stanzas. Linguistically daring, lyrically breathtaking, stylistically bold, these poems both explore familiar territory and shatter stereotypes. Racing between an earthy eroticism and fatalistic despair, filled with humor and tragedy, these poems are alive. They breathe. They dance. Life is difficult, often unfair, but it belongs to the living, as Coleman reminds us in no uncertain terms.« less