Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems, 1965-1990 Complete

Composed, wry, unshaken by adversity, Walker ( The Color Purple ) in her poetry brings a woman's wisdom to bear on love, life's unavoidable tragedies, blacks' struggle for equality and justice, and a globe spinning toward eco-suicide. The collection (including nine previously unpublished selections) moves from early, delicate snapshots of Walker's travels to East Africa ( Once ), through taut, politically charged communiques from the Deep South of the late 1960s and early '70s ( Revolutionary Petunias ) to confessions of spiritual breakdown, followed by an expansive reaching out to the world ( Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful ). Her strong, beautiful voice veers from reverence for the earth to fiery protest over the West's use of the Third World as a dumping-ground for wastes and nuclear tests. Capturing the absurdist predicament of our finite lives (``on the way, maybe--to being daffodils''), these poems beckon us to heal ourselves and the planet. (Apr.)