EXPOSED by Kimberly Marcus

Poetry Tag continues with a book review of a new book of poetry connected to yesterday's book review.

Today’s tagline: Poetry about expressing oneself through art

Guest Reviewer: Laura Davidson

Featured Book: Marcus, Kimberly. 2011. EXPOSED. New York, NY: Random House. ISBN: 9780375866937.

Laura writes [spoiler alert]: Exposed is the story of Liz, a driven girl in love with photography, and Kate, an intelligent and gifted dancer. Kate and Liz have been friends for years and even feel as close as sisters, but one tragic night after Liz and Kate have an argument about Kate's future plans, Kate begins to avoid Liz. After repeated attempts to discover what's wrong, Kate reveals that Liz's brother raped her the night of their argument. Liz's brother denies the incident and Liz subsequently is torn in two. Written in free verse, Kim Marcus pens a heartbreaking tale of how an act of violence can tear apart friendships, families, and communities. Marcus handles the tale with eloquence and with a balance of anger and love, humor and sadness. Despite the sensitive and tragic nature of the story, readers will certainly look forward to reading more by Kimberly Marcus.

Excerpt: “Empty”

I run,
not knowing where I'm going, but I run.
Around the building, down the street,
my sneakers smacking the pavement so hard,
shooting fire up my shins.
I run past twelve years of friendship,
matching clothes and birthday parties,
jumping on beds and catching crickets,
too-long phone calls and belly laughs,
passing notes and building dreams.

Connections
Due to its sensitive subject matter, Exposed is best presented at a high school level. This novel will appeal to young women, as they relate to Liz and Kate's friendship. Also, this novel would be extremely therapeutic for those who have been victims of rape or know someone that has been a victim of rape. The feelings expressed by Liz, such as disbelief of Kate, anger towards her brother, and guilt for having left Kate alone that tragic night, are all true and accurate feelings a person involved in this type of incident would feel. Also, much like Liz details her thoughts and feelings in the novel, young women could find it helpful to detail their own experiences in a journal. Once written down in pen and ink, they could find comfort, resolution, and understanding in their words much like Liz found at the end of Exposed.

Tomorrow’s tagline: Another verse novel about a difficult situation

[We’re more than halfway through Poetry Month—still time to grab a copy of PoetryTagTime, an e-book with 30 poems, all connected, by 30 poets, all connected and downloadable right now at Amazon for your Kindle or Kindle app for your computer, iPad or phone. Just 99 cents.]

Image credit: PoetryTagTime; Random House/Knopf

Posting (not poem) by Sylvia M. Vardell and students © 2011. All rights reserved.