Poems for Men Who Dream of Lolita

David E. Kemp is chair of the Drama Department at Queen’s University
and author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

Kim Morrissey is a poet and playwright whose first collection of poetry,
Batoche, was greeted with critical acclaim when it was published in
1989. This, her second book of poetry, is both timely and disturbing.
Morrissey is concerned about the balance of love and power in a
relationship, with the abuse and destruction of innocence and
tenderness. While on the surface the poetry has an erotic quality,
beneath the seduction lies not mutual respect and trust but the actions
of selfish men who use power and privilege to demand love and thereby
turn the erotic into the obscene.

Morrissey’s poems leap from the page with a brilliance and a pain
that is both direct and tangible. This riveting collection boasts an
awareness not only of needed societal change, but also of the means of
bringing it about.