Amanda Moore | Women's Voices For Change

Amanda Moore is a contributing editor to Poetry Sunday. Her poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies including Zyzzyva, Cream City Review, Tahoma Literary Review, and Best New Poets, and she is the recipient of writing awards from The Writing Salon, Brush Creek Arts Foundation, and the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. She received her MFA from Cornell University, where she served as Managing Editor for EPOCH magazine and was a lecturer in the John S. Knight Writing Institute. Currently a 2019 Fellow at The Writers Grotto, Amanda is a high school teacher and Marin Poetry Center Board member. She lives by the beach in the Outer Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco with her husband and daughter. Author photo credit: K.C. Ipjian.

Poetry

MK Chavez: “Little Red Riding Hood/Companion”

By Amanda Moore

MK Chavez empowers Little Red Riding Hood, an innocent damsel in distress if ever there were one, by giving her autonomy over her body and destiny and, ultimately, recognizing her multiplicity.

Poetry

Elizabeth Alexander: “Praise Song for the Day”

By Amanda Moore

The love Elizabeth Alexander envisions is complex but possible, and the poem is a strong reminder to be clear about all of our country’s legacies—sorrows as well as triumphs—while still singing a “praise song for walking forward in that light.”

Poetry

Interview with Molly Spencer about her new book, If the House

By Amanda Moore

I hope there’s an implicit argument in the book for all of us to value our interior lives without divorcing ourselves from the world. And I hope there’s an argument for living life with intention, for making yourself a life that feels like home to you.

Poetry

“Double Helix,” by Crystal Williams

By Amanda Moore

The poem was written in response to the convergence of multiple artistic endeavors, each of which spoke strongly to me about history—one was the 'Migration Series' exhibit at MoMA for which the poem was commissioned, and one was the book 'The Warmth of Other Suns.'

Poetry

“Poem,” by Joan Naviyuk Kane

By Amanda Moore

In today’s poem, “Poem,” by Joan Naviyuk Kane, the speaker’s search for a word in Inupiaq, the language of her mother, uncovers compounded losses—natural, cultural, ancestral, and personal—that have accrued over time and echo through generations.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “All Hallows Night,”
by Lizette Woodworth Reese

By Amanda Moore

I love Lizette Woodworth Reese’s “All Hallows Night” because it bridges religions and cultures as a remembrance of people—family members, community heroes, saints, and martyrs—who have died.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Blackbody curve,” by Samiya Bashir

By Amanda Moore

As enriching as it is to consider “Blackbody curve” in terms of its scientific allusions or placement in Samiya Bashir’s collection, it’s important to note that the poem stands on its own as an enjoyable and rewarding literary experience.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday:
Three poems from ‘Blood Dazzler’ by Patricia Smith

By Amanda Moore

The poems in 'Blood Dazzler' present voices never heard on the news during the coverage of Hurricane Katrina, voices not usually part of such reports but which reflect the human side of tragedy.