Items related to Jimmy & Rita (American Poets Continuum)
Synopsis
“One of the wonderful things about Jimmy & Rita is that Kim Addonizio never imposes herself in any way, so the poems sing themselves into us. We experience the victories and defeats of Jimmy and Rita as they struggle through the boundless claustrophobia of their world. I think of them and there is a sense of sadness within me. Yet I think of what Addonizio has accomplished and I feel joy.” - Hubert Selby, Jr
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From the Author
a verse novel
"Jimmy & Rita" is a spare, hard-hitting story about two people on the edge. Rita is a sometime prostitute with a heroin habit; Jimmy works various jobs, trying to avoid landing in jail like so many of his friends. I think of their story, first and foremost, as a love story. I wrote the book after I'd written one poem, about two people getting high in a parking lot, and got a glimpse of who these people might be, what their lives might be like. When my publisher asked who I wanted to blurb the book, I said, "Hubert Selby,Jr." I didn't know him, but I admired "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and hoped he might take an interest in my book, because it explored some similar territory. He responded with a wonderful blurb that made me feel I had accomplished what I set out to do--to bring these people to life, to make them fully human, struggling for love and self-respect under harsh circumstances. Like any work of the writer's imagination, there are parts of my experience and the experiences of people that I knew woven into what I invented. I've gotten letters from guys in prison saying the book affected them because it seemed so real. A student of mine who worked with homeless people passed the book around, and several of them wanted to know if I had ever been "on the streets." Jimmy and Rita are real to me, too. I care so much about them that I'm now working on a novel, continuing where this book leaves off. They just keep haunting me.
About the Author
KIM ADDONIZIO lives in Oakland, CA.She is the author of five books of poetry, including Tell Me (BOA Editions), which was a National Book Award Finalist.Her most recent collection is Lucifer at the Starlite (W.W. Norton). She has two books on writing, also from Norton: The Poet s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry (with Dorianne Laux) and Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within.A Selected Poems, Two Losers Stand on a Corner, was published in Arabic by Kalima Press. In the Box Called Pleasure, a short story collection, was published by FC2. Addonizio has also authored two novels, Little Beauties and My Dreams Out in the Street (Simon & Schuster). Visit her online at www.kimaddonizio.com."
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