139 Pages
©2014
Publisher: Rain Mountain Press
Purchase includes: PDF

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"There are many irons in the fire of Force of Flesh, which is a heady amalgam of poetry and prose, but one central one is the Browning-like centering on the monologue or set of observations of a character in an unnamed (un-continented, for that matter) tropical country. In the longest piece in the collection, a man watches, alternately chagrined and made proud by the way his developer brother transforms an unspoiled beachcomber s paradise into a tony resort for the rich. Saying this, Im making the story more straightforward than it is in that Tieber centers her narrative on acute psychological notations and unexpected comic turns in the plot. This is shown in a poem where a madman holds a restaurant hostage then reads a list of five people he is going to shoot. The heroine, top of the list this is the unexpected turn asks if she can finish her dinner first since she waited so long for it. The book is filled with such startling situations, though they are usually less outlandish, portrayed from wry angles in a shimmering style. In short, Tieber is a well-balanced oddball."—Jim Feast

"Linda Tieber has put together a collection full of startling pronouncements, frightening turns, strange images, and memorable glimpses into otherworlds. This is a hybrid, but to read this poetry and prose as a mingled utterance is thrilling. Tiebers voice and vision are completely unique and Force of Flesh as sensual and insistently powerful as its title."—Laura Kasischke

"Linda Tiebers Force of Flesh is a feast of detached darkness revealing the eyes of the flesh. Tieber s secret visions, which ultimately we recognize as our own, cover a spectrum of temperate activity that is universal to diverse cultures. Then, her sudden but incredibly smooth interruption of nicety into subterranean hedonistic thoughts and the monstrous mental gymnastics of serial killers intimates that our inherent temptations of flesh can either be transformed to higher purpose as evidenced by Tiebers incredibly beautiful and truthful poetry, or uncontrollably acted out. Dont miss her Monterey where you get to hear and feel the sensual experience of being serenely bounced upon water."—Alice Shapiro

"Force of Flesh takes us behind the eyes of Linda Tieber. Reading it, I was seeing things in a truly fresh way. Each piece is a vision. Every nightmare is exquisite. One emerges with all sense sharpened."—Ted Jonathan