http://www.mbpratt.org/insidemoneymachine.html
This is poetry for the “immense majority’—for those who work for a living, out of the house or at home, from the laundromat to the classroom, from the blue-collar construction sites to the white-collar desk jobs.
These fresh, gritty and passionate poems are about the people who survive and resist inside “the money machine” of the 21st -century capitalism: those who’ve looked for work and not found it, who’ve held a job but wanted more out of life, who believe a better world is still possible.
Inspired by the poetic prose of the Communist Manifesto, Inside the Money Machine draws its power from Pratt’s own working life and grass-roots organizing, and the struggles of neighbors, co-workers, political activists and loved ones.
In the tradition of the socially-engaged poetry of Muriel Rukeyser and Langston Hughes, Nazim Hikmet of Turkey and pablo Neruda of Chile, these poems speak to the unfinished work of this moment in history, in a way that poetry seldom does.
Inside the Money Machine urges: ‘Let us follow ourselves into a present not ruled by the past.’
Praise for Inside the Money Machine:
“Minnie Bruce Pratt peels away at capitalism, ‘the money machine,’ which is also the war machine. ‘Inside the Money Machine’ is stunning anti-capitalist poetics in action.”
–Don Mee Choi, author of The Morning News Is Exciting
“Minnie Bruce Pratt so compellingly identifies the tough times ‘Inside the Money Machine.” This book of poems is also hope, guiding us toward dignity, self-respect and clarity.”
–Rigoberto González
“This is gritty new work by one of North America’s best poets. Each poem reveals the sweat and labor of the many who are trying to get by in this tough, new world where big corporations and Wall Street are sucking all of our humanity dry. These poems are the voices of ourselves crying out.”
–M.L. Liebler, poet & editor of Working Words: Punching the Clock & Kicking Out the Jams
“An utterly riveting book of poems and a necessary book to read. Pratt’s scrutiny is constantly keen and inviting, and shifts deftly and humanely between reportage and lyricism. I realize these poems are all true. Pratt’s imagination is true.”
–Michael Burkard
Inside the Money Machine
Is available from:
Carolina Wren Press
120 Morris Street
Durham, NC 27701
Phone: 919-560-2738
Fax: 919-560-2759

www.carolinawrenpress.org
###