Hotel Imperium: Poems

Pop and politics haven't had their hats handed to them in this Popian a manner in ages. Reminiscent of the acute fantasias of Susan Wheeler and Elaine Equi, though temperamentally closer to Connie Deanovich, Loden's poems talk about what people are (or have been) talking about, but with barbs hilariously sharpened. Targets include most of the recent Republican presidents (mercifully, she exempts Ford), beauty culture, Woody Allen, Alan Greenspan, Dan Rather and insurance companies: ""For an eye, not an eye./ For a tooth, forget it,"" she writes in ""Memo from the Benefits Department."" Poetry consumers will find special interest in language/system queries such as ""DCEASE,"" a surprisingly moving meditation that begins ""There are two Elvis Presleys in the Social Security Death Master File (DCEASE). The King's social security number is 409-52-2002."" And language enthusiasts will approve of ""Last W&T,"" a rearrangement, refrigerator-poetry-magnet style, of the words of Richard Nixon's will. The danger that cynicism will overtake the indignation that propels Loden is averted by the joy, bafflement and innocence of her poems that take icons as incidental examples, not front-and-center subjects. Take ""The Little Richard Story"": ""On a day like this,/ without the music/ of appearances, creatures/ could land and you/ would not be able to explain/ anything to them, not/ the fearless industry/ of beavers, or why dust bunnies/ prefer the dark, not even/ how Little Richard/ himself came into being."" Appeals to such other believers as Gerard Manley Hopkins or the psalmist work less well, but on the whole, Loden's first full collection marches smartly down the path of satire. (Dec.)