Another Poetry: "My Favorite Tyrants" by Joanne Diaz

Another Poetry: My Favorite Tyrants by Joanne Diaz, 2014, 9780299297848.

I liked this collection better than the last collection by Lindsay. Groups of poems about political tyrants and grief with two poems featuring Larry David.  I presume most of these are biographical and not fiction.

Diaz writes a lot about the death of her dominant mother. There are many poems about Diaz and her father coping with the mom's death and absence. Diaz's mixed feelings because her mother was such a "Queen Bee" and a bit of a tyrant herself.

Diaz's writing is sharp tongued. Wait a minute. The writing is sharp tongued? That doesn't sound right but I won't go back and make more sense. There is a poem about Brian Williams's coverage of the Italian Winter Olympics that reeks with distaste. (Or disgust. Maybe it's sarcasm, you really cannot tell in print anyway.) There are a lot of poems with humor and black humor, like The Watch List.

Comments:
1. The back cover says Diaz teaches at Illinois Wesleyan. I toured there when I was a sophomore, or so. I was told about early admissions and how some students graduate early from high school to enroll. "Cool," I thought. I remember starting to fill out a form once I got home, then I got bored and quit.
2. Ringo Starr told a story about wanting to emigrate to Texas. He dropped into the U.S. embassy or consulate and asked. He got started on the process but on his return visit to the embassy/consulate they gave him a stack of papers. Ringo said that giving a teenager a bunch of paperwork is an easy way to dissuade the kid from anything.