The Black Back-Ups: Poetry

In her first collection, constructed with interlocking passages of prose and poetry, Rushin focuses on being a black child and then a black woman in a world where power has been controlled predominantly by white men. The metaphor of the title poem, dedicated to ``. . . all of the Black women who sang back-up for / Elvis Presley, John Denver, James Taylor, Lou Reed. / Etc. Etc. Etc.,'' is developed in small autobiographical sketches, such as that of a grandmother who purchased silverware with a dollar and a coupon from Nabisco Shredded Wheat. There is a tender quality in much of the work, which can be attributed to the poet's role as ``bridge,'' which she playfully complains about: ``I explain my mother to my father my father to my little sister my little sister to my brother my brother to the White Feminists . . . '' At times she demonstrates an acute sensitivity to detail (``I am Invisible Woman / The itch in the middle of your back / . . . The meat / Between / Your teeth''), but in some of the overtly political poems Rushin loses her concentration and what follows (a portrait of construction workers, for instance) veers toward stereotype while the language becomes deflated. (Mar.)