From Publishers Weekly
The three parts of this spirited collection address the heart, "spangled again and lopsided." In her second book of poems, Cisneros ( My Wicked Wicked Ways ) presents a street-smart, fearlessly liberated persona who raves, sometimes haphazardly, always with abandon, about the real thing: "I am . . . / The lust goddess without guilt. / The delicious debauchery. You bring out / the primordial exquisiteness in me." As if breaking all the rules ("Because someone once / said Don't / do that! / you like to do it"), she delves with urgency into things carnal--sequins, cigars, black lace bras and menstrual blood. Readers of Cisneros's coming-of-age novel The House on Mango Street (which Knopf is reissuing in hardcover) will recognize the almost mythic undertow of her voice; it never weakens. We meet again a powerful, fiercely independent woman of Mexican heritage, though this time innocence has long been lost. For her the worlds of language and life are one and the same: "Lorenzo, I forget what's real. / I mix up the details of what happened / with what I witnessed inside my / universe." These poems--short-lined, chantlike, biting--insistently rework the same themes to tap them. In the end, however, despite the accessible boldness of the writing, the poems lack the depth, the complexity and the lyrical magic of the author's fiction. QPB alternate; first serial to the New Yorker. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
"You bring out the Mexican in me./The hunkered thick dark spiral./The core of a heart howl./The bitter bile./The tequila lagrimas on Saturday all/through next weekend Sunday." In this typically direct, sensual, and bitingly colloquial poem, Cisneros is addressing a lover, but she might as well be addressing the act of writing itself, which clearly brings out the best in her, along with the passion she associates with her Mexican roots. As in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (LJ 4/1/91), one of LJ's Best Books of 1991, Cisneros deftly explores the consequences of being Hispanic and a woman-in particular, being the tough, independent free-spirited "loose woman" of her title. The poems that result are brilliant and shimmering and sharp-tongued and just occasionally a little too similar. Highly recommended where good poetry is read and essential for all Hispanic collections.Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Alegr{¡}ia is Spanish for joy, and joy is the prevailing emotion in these poems. Being a woman is better than being a man, and there's more to ponder in the relation between life and the task of living it--these themes run through Cisneros' fiery new poems. Cisneros basks in her womanhood, taking time to point out the delicate antique French lace on her bed, then exposing the grittier fabric of passion and the lust of wanting. The whole collection reflects a nervy turning of decorum's heavy stones exposing the rich soil of a woman's singular voice. These poems are not so much a self-discovery as they are a reaffirmation of the self. Cisneros teases the imagination, then leaves little for it to do; she lets loose with a punch, and then it's a cuff that makes you laugh with empathy more than pain. Ra{£}ul Ni{¤}no

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Seductive, earthy, at times confessional, Sandra Cisneros's vibrant new collection of poetry celebrates the female aspects of love - from the reflective to the overtly erotic - in a voice recognizable from her powerful works of fiction. These poems offer narratives as formally elegant as they are emotional and accessible. They are bound together by the voice of one woman, whose language spans cultures and continents. She is a woman who finds great strength from her roots in the barrio, and who knows better than to take herself too seriously, even as she struggles with the anguish of making sense - and making love - in a world she feels compelled to write about. With a multiplicity of moods tumbling through its lines - joyous and introspective, tender and ruthless, self-mocking and sincere, often funny and sometimes wild and rude - Loose Woman offers intoxicating poems of extraordinary insight and vivid imagination.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The three parts of this spirited collection address the heart, ``spangled again and lopsided.'' In her second book of poems, Cisneros ( My Wicked Wicked Ways ) presents a street-smart, fearlessly liberated persona who raves, sometimes haphazardly, always with abandon, about the real thing: ``I am . . . / The lust goddess without guilt. / The delicious debauchery. You bring out / the primordial exquisiteness in me.'' As if breaking all the rules (``Because someone once / said Don't / do that! / you like to do it''), she delves with urgency into things carnal--sequins, cigars, black lace bras and menstrual blood. Readers of Cisneros's coming-of-age novel The House on Mango Street (which Knopf is reissuing in hardcover) will recognize the almost mythic undertow of her voice; it never weakens. We meet again a powerful, fiercely independent woman of Mexican heritage, though this time innocence has long been lost. For her the worlds of language and life are one and the same: ``Lorenzo, I forget what's real. / I mix up the details of what happened / with what I witnessed inside my / universe.'' These poems--short-lined, chantlike, biting--insistently rework the same themes to tap them. In the end, however, despite the accessible boldness of the writing, the poems lack the depth, the complexity and the lyrical magic of the author's fiction. QPB alternate; first serial to the New Yorker. (May)

Library Journal