Chasing Utopia

Established poet, writer, instructor, and activist Giovanni (English, Virginia Tech; Bicycles: Love Poems) begins with beer in this poetry/memoir hybrid. She explains that in her family of foodies, only her mother and her aunt drank beer. Thus begins Giovanni's search for the number one beer in the world. Of course, Utopia (the beer in question) is something else entirely. These are stories of shared history and memories that intersect with poems. Giovanni writes of friends, hurricanes, getting behind the wheels of cars, taking care of elderly parents, her childhood, her adulthood as writer and teacher— "…But I grew up/ And learned/ Trust and love/ Are crafts we practice/ Are wheels/ We balance/ Our lives on." She includes pieces in homage to authors from Toni Morrison to Sonia Sanchez and others in gratitude to musicians such as Marian Anderson and Don Pullen. Giovanni's utopia is infused with love as well as advice, especially to writers. "Poets shouldn't commit/ Suicide," she says, because "That would leave the world/ To those without imagination/ Or heart." What Giovanni has given readers is her heart, in a story told with gentleness and passion and with simplicity and humor. "Poet is garlic/ Not for everyone/ but those who take it/ never get caught by werewolves."