Viper Rum

In her third collection of poetry <b>Viper Rum</b> Mary Karr delves into autobiographical subject matter; various beloveds are birthed and buried in these touching lyrics some of which as the title suggests deal with drink: <p/>I cast back to those last years<br>I drank alone nights at the kitchen sink <br>bathrobed my head hatching snakes <br> while my baby slept in his upstairs cage<br>and my marriage choked to death <p/>Precise and surprising Karr's poems take on the bedevilments of fate and grief with a diabolical edge of their own <b>(Poetry)</b>. <p/>Also included is Karr's controversial and prize-winning essay Against Decoration in which she took aim against the verbal ornaments that too often pass for poetry these days-the new formalism that elevates form to an end itself.