ItÍs not every book of poetry that includes an ñOde to Body Armor.î But then, itÍs not every poet whose experience in academia includes a stint at the police academy. The poems of Sarah Cortez are tough-minded, verbally supple, and often deeply (even explicitly) erotic: You want me to come/ to you each night, drop my gun belt,/ lie along your muscled length . . . And each of these fifty lyric poems (with titles such as ñRosie Working Plain Clothes,î ñLas TÕas,î and ñAttempt to Locateî) displays CortezÍs many facets: the street smarts of a law-enforcement officer (deputy constable in HoustonÍs Harris County); the bilingual vocabulary of a proud Mexican American; the coolly analytic eye of a corporate accountant (as she once was); the linguistic dexterity of a Latin teacher (another former occupation); and the frank sensuality of a strong and spirited woman. Surveying fellow officers, friends, criminals, lovers, strangers, and family members, Sarah Cortez has learned that a bullet-proof vest may, with luck, protect the body, but keeping the heart from harm is a chancier and more mysterious affair. Long after the pages of How to Undress a Cop have been turned, her unique and distinctive voice will stir the blood and haunt the memory.

Presents poems, stories, dialogues, essays, and aphorisms created by a computer using the Racter program

Illustrations and rhyming text celebrate police officers and what they do.

I once overheard a respective member of my high school football team use the word philosopher. Secretly, I was ashamed I didn't know what he was talking about. It was then I realized the importance of having a better vocabulary. After high school, like so many in the south, and other places, I joined the military as it was a poor-man's-college. A place to learn a trade and have a respected position in society. The basic requirement that one had to take responsibility for his own actions was quickly, and unceremoniously, taught to those unfortunate enough not to already know. To 'pack your own mud', meant that it was your duty to be ready for what comes. Being a cop, basically, means the same if you're to occupy a respected position in the society. Life's boot-camp soon teaches, however, that you're not exempt from the law's of circumstance because of some title. And, though you would like to be 'all things to all people', you're soon awakened to the fact that only politicians can play at that game. One that has unfairly burdened police-work beyond sensible accountability-A real threat to all, in fact. As a cop, you have to settle for being 'just' a representative of the law; not the law itself. Your job is important enough as you stand in the 'rawest' of positions, literally, 'where the rubber meets the road'. That being, where the citizen gives over his freedoms to you by giving-into your demands/requests. Mistreat a good American too harshly, and he/she just may want to kill you, or wish someone else would. Certainly not in the best of circumstances; the worst being that one may be intent on killing you anyway just because you are a cop. Regrettably, the above lesson isn't well taught in the academy. You have to learn at your own peril also, not sufficiently taught, is there are no 'fun fights' with the cops. If someone will fight you, and should overcome you, he/she can then kill you with your own gun! What's to stop them? It is only the cops that are accused of using excessive force by too many political-minded folks! In short, there are too many boots parading around that didn't have to endure boot-camp; learning that rights/responsibilities are wedded by the law's of nature, not by the whims/fantasies of fools-on either side of the badge!

**NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING HARRY STYLES** This love is all-consuming It is in 1950s' Brighton that Marion first catches sight of the handsome and enigmatic Tom. He teaches her to swim in the shadow of the pier and Marion is smitten - determined her love will be enough for them both. A few years later in Brighton Museum Patrick meets Tom. Patrick is besotted with Tom and opens his eyes to a glamorous, sophisticated new world. Tom is their policeman, and in this age it is safer for him to marry Marion. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed. 'A sensitive, sweeping novel' VOGUE 'Tense, romantic, smart...I loved it. Devoured it!' RUSSELL T. DAVIES 'A powerful story of forbidden love, regret, and living as your true self' VANITY FAIR 'A moving story of longing and frustration' OBSERVER

Affordable e-book of volume honored as one of Library Journal's "Poetry Books of the Year."