SOURCE: A review of Emerald Ice, in The American Book Review, Vol. 12, No. 4, September-October, 1990, pp. 16-26.

In the following mixed review, the critic says the poetry is fueled by pain, anger and envy and that Wakoski defines herself in terms of men.

In December 1796, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote to his friend John Thelwall, "Do not let us introduce an Act of Uniformity against poets. I have room enough in my brain to admire, aye, and almost equally, the head and fancy of Akenside, and the heart and fancy of Bowles, the solemn lordliness of Milton, and the divine chit-chat of Cowper. And whatever a man's excellence is, that will be likewise his fault." Coleridge's words must apply to women poets too, or at least I was reminded of them, especially the last sentence, as I read Emerald Ice: Selected Poems 1962-87 by Diane Wakoski.

Over the twenty-five years...