Yesterday I Saw the Sun: Poems

The publisher claims that this book is "a work of fiction". If only that were the case. Then the contents in it wouldn't break your heart. Save for her poem on abortion ("Local Anesthesia"), I believe everything to be true, based on her own experiences. It is obvious to me that there is no role she can play whose life experiences would be more horrific than her own. Ally's poems on domestic violence give you a vision of pure hell. She is a survivor. She gives a new definition to the word. If you are a fan then this book is a must. Your heart truly will be extended to her as you read her book. And when you watch her movies you will look at her with heartfelt compassion. This is the affect that it has had on me. Be prepared to cry.

This book was published (back in 1991) to cash in on the author's fame as a movie star. It consists of free verse meditation on Ms Sheedy's inner feelings--- which sounds like it should be hideous. However, she has a good ear, and she is a relatively intelligent movie star, and the poems are actually interesting.

critics were prepared to pan this because it was written by a famous actress. the work, however, is honest with brillant imagery and keen insight. I have used the book in college courses and find it inspiring.

Emotionally raw and free of standard poetic justifications Ms. Sheedy delivers to us in quite simple honesty all the angst and despair of addictions and cages, both those placed upon her and those she's adopted as her own. Some passages are haunting, giving me cause to pause and wonder if she had lead specific moments of my own life, and undoubtedly moments from scores of others. I applaud this work, not completely on artistic merit, but more importantly for its depth and the author's ability to convey to us, the average reader, what an unsettled existence all the so-called riches of life can bring. I look forward to reading her next volumn.

Intially I read the book my senior year in high school when it first appeared in 1991. I still adhere to my original opinion and find the work painfully raw which in most cases would drown the message out in other books, but here in so few pages is a honeycomb; filled with both the sting of life's hardships and the rich of their rewards. Where most poets would leave off their insecurites and misfortune, by cleverly disguising with metaphore and carefully constructed phrases. This poet manages to create out of a lifetime more than just a story but a journey of the lonely pilgrimage in which we all quest. There's an overwhelming sincerity in each line, granted there is no regard to basic poetic structure but only a scholar would notice. Most people who have read the book would enjoy what I enjoyed about it: human struggle.