A War of Eyes: And Other StoriesPaperback, 1 July 1988

The lives of the urban desperate in their unending struggle to keep afloat in an always dangerous environment circumscribed by racism and poverty. "Extraordinary stories, told in a powerful voice."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

Wanda Coleman wrote as a witness, whether as a poet, in fiction, or journalism. She captured her world and its truths, of life with the constants of race, fear, poverty, gender, inequality, oppression. Through it all, there is passionate love and sexuality, humor and drama -- her work is full of startling confession and breathtaking power.

Terrance Hayes wrote, "Wanda Coleman was a great poet, a real in-the-flesh, flesh-eating poet who also happened to be a real black woman. Amid a life of single motherhood, multiple marriages, and multiple jobs that included waitress, medical file clerk, and screenwriter, she made poems. She denounced boredom, cowardice, the status quo. Few poets of any stripe write with as much forthrightness about poverty, about literary ambition, about depression, about our violent, fragile passions."

War of Eyes is for anyone who loves powerful fiction.