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Poems From The Women's Movement (2009)

by Honor Moore(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1598530429 (ISBN13: 9781598530421)

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

Library of America

review 1: In the introduction to this American Poets Project volume, editor Honor Moore states her intention: "[Drawing from]58 poets and nearly a hundred poems...written between the publication of Sylvia Plath's 'Ariel' in the U.S. (1966) and 1982, I offer a portrait of how the inner lives of women came into language during that crucial decade and a half, as manifested in poems that range from furious to contemplative, outright funny to analytical, grief-stricken to visionary." Many of the poets included in 'Poems from the Women's Movement' have become well-known, often anthologized, prize-winning poets of the late 20th and early 21st century, names such as Carolyn Kizer, Alicia Ostriker, Fanny Howe, Denise Levertov, Louise Gluck, Jane Cooper, Lucille Clifton, Maxine Kumin, Marg... moree Piercy, Alice Walker, Anne Sexton, and Adrienne Rich. But other names were new to me. For instance, I hadn't heard of Olga Broumas, but I now consider her poem "Caritas" to be among the very best erotic love poems I've ever read, up there with Sappho in terms of evocative language and skilled use of figurative language. I also admired the long poem "A Woman Is Talking to Death" by Judy Grahn, "Women's Work" by Michelle Cliff, and the poems "Unleashed" and "Joan" by Eileen Myles. Not all of the poems in this volume belong in the top tier of poetry--in my opinion, some of them are too loose and prosy; they're important social or political utterances, but not moving as art. But those are the rare exceptions. Taken as a whole, 'Poems from the Women's Movement' shows how poetry in America had one of its great flourishings, and not too very long ago. These are poems worth reading several times. I highly recommend the book.
review 2: Thankfully, this anthology was full of gems, rather than being full of filler poems with a few gems thrown in. I mostly read women's poetry, because it resonates so strongly with me. Some lines just jump off the page and grip you, like this passage from one of Alta's poems:write your own commandments. i am onlya person like you. “burn this& memorize yourself.”Boom! Memorize yourself indeed, Alta. Love it!Now I need to go read some other works by all the poets featured in this collection. One of these days I'll get around to reading men's poetry, too. less

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