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Rating: 
Summary: An argument for accessible poetry
Review: A poetry-lover, a student of the art, I cannot understand how so many readers have criticized this appealing little packet of verse for its sheer accessibility. For this is certainly the point of many of the more negative reader comments listed here. That this book may be classified as "mainstream," that it can be read and enjoyed by the inhabitants of the non-academic world, and that it may even flow with prose-y, conversational lyricism appears to unnerve a few of those self-proclaimed purists still rattling around in their dusty ivory tower. Good news! Deborah Garrison is here to liberate you -- come out and smell the fresh air!
Rating: 
Summary: Snakey, real, bursting with ahs
Review: Deborah Garrison is a new name to me and a fresh pinch about the poetry nerve. After you read a few dozen books of poetry, technique gives way to meaning and original ideas flatten the importance of style. This is what Deborah has done... tossed style aside for the sake of meaning and smacked the reader with a cool splash of it. Write another, please!
Rating: 
Summary: underbaked and flat
Review: Great idea for a collection--poems from the point of view of a female office worker. But there's not much empathy, not much risk, not much music, not much wit, not much anything here. These are above all intellectually and linguistically lazy poems which aim for irony but seldom get beyond archness. No perceptions you couldn't find in the pages of a woman's magazine or on a TV-show about working women--and not even as entertaining as any number of chick lit novels.
Rating:
Summary: underbaked and flat
Review: I picked this book off the shelf by chance. My good luck.Deborah Garrison's little book of poetry is a treasure. It's funky, funny, wonderful reading. This collection will impress any lover of poetry, whether you just started reading yesterday or you've been a fan for years. Her writing is accessible. Her writing is real; while she wants to be a "modern" woman, all unoppressed and girl power-ish, she is still a human. And she let's you know that up front. One of the best things about it is that you don't have to break out a dictionary to understand it. And it doesn't take days worth of analyzation to get through a few lines either. Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Fun, Make-You-Think Reading
Review: I picked this book off the shelf by chance. My good luck. Deborah Garrison's little book of poetry is a treasure. It's funky, funny, wonderful reading. This collection will impress any lover of poetry, whether you just started reading yesterday or you've been a fan for years. Her writing is accessible. Her writing is real; while she wants to be a "modern" woman, all unoppressed and girl power-ish, she is still a human. And she let's you know that up front. One of the best things about it is that you don't have to break out a dictionary to understand it. And it doesn't take days worth of analyzation to get through a few lines either. Buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: Sure, it's accessible, but...
Review: I've always disliked poetry,until a friend told me about Ms. Garrison. This book is fresh, energetic, and gives a voice to those pity grievances people like me feel every day. There are so many poets who absolutely bore me--Ms. Garrison is the most engaging, real voice out there.
Rating:
Summary: Chick-lit poetry
Review: It's Bridget Jones country, which I don't think is such a terrible thing. And it's easy to read, which I don't think is such a terrible thing. The poems tell of the men in the poetess's life, from her mother's lovers to her boss, the other men at her job, and her husband. It's in the colloquial style of the English Movement, with something of the American Confessional. Sometimes (at least in the Fight Song) it even scans and rhymes.
The five stars are not because it's GREAT poetry, but because it's enjoyable, true-to-life and readable...
Rating:
Summary: you're kidding me, right?
Review: That this book got any attention still blows me away. What a boring bunch of poems that read like a nightmarish open reading. If this is poetry that can actually get into the popular vein, I'm gonna lock myself in the library and not talk to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: For Working Women
Review: This is a somewhat short collection, 59 pages of actual poems with a lot of white space. The main emphasis is on working women, but many of the poems are about relationships. There is a range in style, length, and subject matter. The style ranges from the crude "Fight Song" to some of a more sentimental nature. Their length varies from one to three pages in an easy to read typeface (Palatino). Overall, it is a collection of 28 poems previously published in "The New Yorker" (where the author is an editor), "Elle," "The New York Times," "Open City," and "Slate." Like other collections, most readers will find some poems they like more than others. It is fun poetry for the masses. It is not for the psuedo-intellectuals who are wrapped up in great authors. A few of the poems remind me of the style/subject matter of Robert Service who wrote poems about everything from dieting to taxes...
Rating:
Summary: It's Entertaining (Is That Such a Bad Thing?)
Review: You will note as you go through the reviews that this seems to be a "love it or hate it" book. If you believe that all poetry should read like recycled Rilke, you'll hate this. Don't buy it. If, however, you'd like to read some poetry on the subway or at the beach, that you'd like a little enjoyment after a steady diet of high culture, then you'll find this is a pretty good choice. There's a lot of material that might remind you of Fran Liebowitz ("Metropolitan Life"). Some of the characters and situations are a little overdrawn, but the irreverance of it all seldom drags. This doesn't pretend to be more than entertainment, and in that context, it succeeds better than most efforts. I considered this to be money well spent.
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