REVIEW: New book by Lori Hamilton

Live, From the Emergency Room

By Lori Hamilton



This book hurts. It really does. I’ve never been raped per se. But I have been violated. But that’s not the point. The point is that Ms. Hamilton writes about her violation. The point is that she writes about it in detail. The point is she writes about survival.

I’ve known Lori for quite a long time. She is full of passion and (if I may) venom. Her words are intense. They are in your face. Her words are permanent. They are unmistakable. Her words are power and inescapable. On paper, one may not wish to continue reading, as her truthfulness scares most – at least me. But you can’t get away from her live spoken word. That is, if you don’t leave.

“and getting married to you
or
Jesus
washing away my sins”

JEEZ!!!!!!!

Lori Hamilton writes and projects her experiences like few do. Be frightened. Be calm. Lori has covered it all. She really has. And I am proud to know her.

Here is a poem from her new book

"she's beautiful"

the witch is brunette,
the heroine is blonde.
"she's beautiful!"
my niece kelsey said of dorothy.
my niece has blonde hair,
i'm a brunette.
when we get to the part of the story
where dorothy is imprisoned by the witch,
kelsey says,
"i don't like this part!"
and so, i skip it
and it's cute and funny to me at the time,
but later on, i start to think about it:
how come every witch in every child's story has black hair?
most of the heroines have blonde hair,
except for snow white,
which surprises me.
after all, brunettes aren't beautiful
or desired by princes.
brunettes are
the evil stepsisters,
the wicked witches.
brunettes are the smart ones
who get away from the killer
like Jamie Lee Curtis in "Halloween."
the blonde cheerleader or prom queen
always gets nailed -
first by the football player,
then by the killer.
the brunettes stay home and study
and fall asleep with their glasses on.
i guess that's why snow white slept for so long:
she forgot her glasses and therefore
lost her intelligence.
she was too stupid to wake up
and ask herself what time it was.
the lips of a prince woke her up.
what a risk.
could've been the sharp edge of the killer's knife
grazing her lips
for all she knew.
every night i sleep with my glasses on
and the only colors i've ever dyed my hair
were black and red.
i've never dyed my hair blonde.
i don't wanna die.
i don't wanna be pretty,
pretty as a dead body
sprawled across the bed.
i don't wanna be
the beautiful ghost of a girl
floating through your sick head,
my face pale blue,
my body wrapped in cellophane
like a dozen red roses
wrapped in green tissue.
i think i'll stay brunette.
no chance of being a heroine in one of these little myths,
but at least i'll get to live
for a little while longer.
and if my niece never says,
"she's beautiful"
of a brunette,
i can live with that.
it's just sad that
when we get to the part of the story featuring a brunette,
we skip it!
i'm participating in it!
what's worse than that?!
denying myself,
obliterating my existence by turning the page,
letting my niece forget
that not all of us are beautiful,
in fact, some of us are filled with rage
and therefore skipped always
by the princes.
and the monster
turns out to be our brother.
and when we kiss a frog,
it stays a frog.
and when we look in the mirror,
we don't even bother to ask,
"who's the fairest of them all?"
we already know
the answer.

-- Lori Hamilton



-- Hunter Bell