Louder
we can’t hear you(yet!)
The Political Poems of Marge Piercy
Library Journal’s Best Poetry Audio Book of the Year 2004
The audio CD “Greatest Hits” political poems from one of America’s best known and most frequently read activist poets.
“A world-class poet and poetry reader, Piercy presents road-tested work that has inspired and infuriated for decades. Her legacy of social protest is long, and this collection of her political best underscores her relevance in the world of literary activism. This is an excellent audio production.”
— Christopher Caldwell, Audiobookcafe.com
“This year’s “best” list includes books by Carrie Fisher, John Grisham, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Marge Piercy. LOUDER is a timely and important recording from one of the best-known activist poets in America . Piercy is at the top of her form as she addresses feminist issues, blasts the Bush administration, and more.”
—Library Journal (Starred review)
TO BUY THIS CD ONLINE, Louder: We Can’t Hear You : The Political Poems of Marge Piercy
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“No other poet of this generation has more consistently identified herself with the political and social movements of her own times,” writes Margaret Atwood in the New York Times Book Review. Recited in speeches by Gloria Steinem and Howard Zinn, and in rallies from coast to coast, Piercy’s political poems have become anthems for social change. But to locate these poems, Piercy fans have had to hunt through sixteen different volumes. Louder, We Can’t Hear You (Yet!), is an audio CD collection of 30 of her most popular political poems with an accompanying 8 panel fold-out.
In favorites such as “To Be of Use,” written during the Vietnam War; “For Strong Women,” and “The Low Road,” during the women’s movement; “No One Came Home,” an elegy for 9/11; and “Choices,” written in reaction to Laura Bush’s White House invitation and included in the Poets Against the War anthology, Piercy confronts the social issues of our times for a new generation of activists, in words that have become “catchphrases,” according to Erica Jong. “Poem after poem has that kind of authority, power, and verbal brilliance.”
“For anyone interested in what’s been happening on the cutting edge during the past two decades,” says The New York Times, “she’s clearly essential reading.” Louder, We Can’t Hear You (Yet!) is not only the first collection of Marge Piercy’s political poems, but her first audio collection in twenty years; truly a historical document.
Sneak and Peak
Under the Patriot Act, any strong arm
of law enforcement
has the right to enter your home
while you sleep
while you are out
to enter covertly and search
under suspicion you might
be hiding something
under the bed
among your boxers or thongs
on your computer among the porn.
Are you patriotic?
Do you submit lists of what you read
to the F.B.I. without waiting to be asked?
Do you spy on your neighbors checking
if they play Middle Eastern music
if they smoke other than tobacco
if they read the wrong books –all u.s
right thinking people know what
they are. If they have too much sex
or sex of the wrong kind – all u.s.
right thinking people know exactly
what we mean. Do you believe
in the separation of Church and Hate?
Evil our President says is everywhere
and obvious and must be invaded
mostly by Black adolescents
whose morality is dubious anyway
unless they die as heroes. They’ll
come home to unemployment
if they do come home.
We, your born-again FBI
have collected receipts from your
restaurant meals for the past five years.
You have ordered hummus six times,
falafel twice and lamb four times
which is suspect because your
President eats only beef and ham.
What are you planning to do with that
sesame tahini you purchased at Stop
& Slop? Can you justify this act?
Your credit card records indicate
you purchased 8 bags of fertilizer
on April 11 at 17 hundred oh 8.
Fertilizer can make bombs.
You also purchased nails —
material for anti-personnel devices.
Who but a terrorist would need
these dangerous supplies?
You have turned off the television
48 times while Our President spoke
words of wisdom and Christian endeavor.
During the State of the Union address
you were observed on your couch
making derogatory faces and obscene
remarks. You have emailed quotes
from our sacred leader miscalling
him Shrub. This is now punishable
by death. You may not criticize
the President nor his lady Laura
nor his omniscient veep
the great grey Cheney of oil
nor the secretary of defense
Our Donald whose brain shines
bright as titanium solid
between his perked up ears
into which every men’s and women’s
room in the country is directly
bugged. You may be detained
on suspicion of being suspicious
You want to protest?
That’s grounds enough.
You are under arrest.
You have no right to remain
silent, to seek counsel
or to defend yourself. Welcome
to the New Inquisition.
Copyright, 2004, Middlemarsh, Inc.
Louder: We Can’t Hear You (Yet!)
Price: $15.95
Audio CD
Publisher: Leapfrog Press
Total playing time 63:24
ISBN 0-9728984-2-5
To Buy This CD Online, Louder: We Can’t Hear You : The Political Poems of Marge Piercy
Find Out If Your Favorite Piercy Political Poem is on Louder