White Lipstick

“With these poems—sparsely worded, richly lived—Geri Digiorno reminds us again just how entangled the delicate roots and tendrils of family and “individual” identity can become. Her lovingly subjective subjects include family, neighborhood, coming of age, friendship, betrayal, initiation, baptism, masquerade, transformation, sexual discovery and conquest. Sketching poetically, Digiorno—at heart a realist unafraid to risk sentimentality—relives a working-class life begun in San Francisco’s Noe Valley. In clipped, lower-case memoir-vernacular, she tells all, serving up clues to the meaning of life worldwide.”—Al Young

“The poems in Geri Digiorno’s White Lipstick explode with passion and power. Unforgettable and moving, these poems, rooted in pop culture, are ones you will return to again and again. In fearless poems about survival, Digiorno tells the story of an extraordinary woman’s life and tells it with humor and grace.”—Maria Mazziotti Gillan

“These direct and open-hearted poems speak with humor and insight of one woman’s life in the American West. Geri Digiorno’s clear voice draws us directly into the center of her world.”—Diane Di Prima