SOURCE: "A Word about Diane Wakoski," in Sumac, Vol. 2, No. 1, Fall, 1969, pp. 141-42.

In the following review, Hannigan discusses several of Wakoski's collections and pronounces her "a first rate poet" who demonstrates a command of wit, "stagecraft," and technical poetic skills.

Four years ago Diane Wakoski let it be known publicly that she thought, "… poetry is the completely personal expression of someone about his feelings and reactions to the world. I think it is only interesting in proportion to how interesting the person who writes it is." There is no poetic power dead or alive to absolve that sort of fatuity; but Diane Wakoski has, amazingly enough, justified all the bravado. If you accept the idea of literature in time, then you will find every literary utterance 'interesting' in its context—much as Plekhanov could find bank statements and prison torture chambers "ochen' interesno." Yeats, Duncan, Aram Saroyan...