Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are the stuff of legend – why tell their story again? Chances are you don’t know the nuances – their love story and that of their accomplices Buck Barrow and his wife Blanche; their aspirations, conflicts and prayerful natures; and ultimately the sources of their tragedy. At its core, Careen is a long poem spoken by the characters, though the voices are companioned by newspaper articles often ironically at odds with the inside story. Smart lets the principal actors relate their own tale — a book of voices speaking out of the desperate Dirty Thirties.
Praise for Carolyn Smart:
“…always moving, sometimes chilling …” — University of Toronto Quarterly
“[Smart] understands loneliness in all its forms, and writes with a clarity and compassion that is powerfully affecting.” — Anne Michaels
Press Coverage:
The Wild, Wild West — Canadian Literature
More Lives Than This Plain Desperation: Carolyn Smart’s Careen — Arc Poetry Magazine