Publisher's Synopsis
Class Acts, Katerina Fretwell's seventh poetry (and art) collection, confronts the covert, historical caste/class system in the West. Section One details proto-feminist Mary Wollstonecraft's injection of female rights into the French Revolution's post-industrial, democratic discourse. Section Two contrasts the 2008 financial meltdown with Fretwell's 50s and 60s coerced debutante upbringing. Section Three, through Fretwell's social work in 60s/70s Halifax, illustrates implacable poverty. Poetic forms mirror themes: repetitive pantoums underscore female restraints in Wollstonecraft's time; prose poems vocalize middle class fear; sestinas reflect alcoholic, cloistered socialites; blank, staggered verse mimics desperate penury.
