About Little Charlie Lindbergh, like earlier Margaret Randall poetry
collections, presents a unique poetic voice by a revered elder in the
genre. These poems are all about making connections, many of them
unexpected. Randall links national events with intimate family moments,
ancient ruins with present-day communities, and prehistory with history
(making a convincing argument for the former as a part of the latter).
Everyday speech and expressions that have become social clichés or
advertising banter find their way into these poems and acquire the
precision of literary elegance. Straightforward speech becomes
passionate lyricism. This book gives lie to the notion that so-called
political poetry must by nature come off as propagandistic; complexity
and grace are always present. The poems collected here pay attention to
birth, love, loss, Jewish identity, domestic and international violence,
the environment, language, art, class, race, gender, and sexual
identity. All these seemingly disparate subjects are linked by an
empowering way of seeing and saying. This is social justice poetry that
packs a wallop and moves the reader deeply.