Well, Nelson doesn't make any claims to be particularly oppressed in any way, rather the opposite, so we need make none for her here--she has talked about growing up as an "army brat", and the privileged child, I think, of an officer, in a very desegregated army. (She wrote an interesting essay about this and her teaching stint at West Point somewheres... Poets & Writers maybe? Or Hudson?)
Uneven as a poet? Yes. I think she is far stronger in form than free verse (as are many of us, no?). I also think she is one of the stronger "new" formalist poets of her generation. That there may be poets who have not achieved sufficient recognition does not mean that we need tear down those who have received some. New Formalism is very sensitive to charges that it is an old boys club (perhaps for a reason), and am sure they are thrilled to be able to claim Nelson. But again, that doesn't mean she wouldn't be worth claiming without the extra atributes (black, female).
Regarding the poems, these sonnets are part of a narrative sequence, and as such it is perhaps somewhat unfair to them to take them so far out of their context. Nonetheless, I do think "Balance" particularly stands very well alone. As I mentioned, I like the mix of high (not just Latinate but Greek--diadem, metamorphosis) and demotic diction, which I find effective--Diverne teeters between two worlds, the master's house and the field. I can see that the colloquial might make some people wary as being stereotyping or condescending in some way. We are used to being suspicious of it, particularly in "white" hands. But it isn't just the dialect--it is the harsh Anglo-saxon words as well--"stuck-up" "bitch" "hoe", etc. The italicized dialect phrases represent another voice in the poem--a chorus, perhaps, of other slaves who resent Diverne's "good fortune" (dubious) in attracting the "attentions" of the master. It is an uncomfortable poem in many aspects, and is meant to be.
"Chopin" is another favorite, Bob, thanks for posting.
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