I finished Vice by Ai ( her name not computers). This is the second of her books I’ve read over the last couple of months. All of her poems are dramatic monologues. Many historical figures like Jack Ruby, Oppenheimer and David koresh. Others from the perspective of abused women. All of the poems are intensely dark. Probably more so than any poet I’ve read. Even Philip Larkin who always has a laconic humor to his bitterness. Ai is disturbing but brilliant in that disruption. One recognizes ourselves in her work. As she wrote in “I Can’t Get Started”: It’s me. I’m the one dirty habit I just can’t break.
