Women's Voices For Change

The subject of the “Afghan Girl,” Steve McCurry’s famous photograph (published in the 'National Geographic' and iconic of war and the suffering of refugees around the world), was, for a long time, a girl without a name.

Margaret Stawowy’s debut collection "Keeper of the Pond" is packed with interesting allusions to literature and art, and there is something for every taste in this wonderful, quirky book.

I resonated with the poem’s clear expression of the fear that shot through me as a young mother when I saw rifts between mothers and sons, and its acknowledgement of my devastation the first time I realized I’d moved from the center into a distinct periphery of my child’s universe.

We have a long tradition of upholding the principles of the founders of this country, even when we disagree on what those principles are, and the idea of an executive order saying we “must bear hostile attitudes” to those principles is shocking.

This poem was conceived during my last year working as an accountant. The partners had flown in an expert from New York who was presenting very sketchy strategies for shortening the useful life of assets, thereby increasing the deductions.

Both poems this week are in form, and together they help make a point I’ve been pushing for some time in these columns: form can set you free in your writing and reading of poetry.

The poem is somewhat about being alone and a speaker who conjures life into inanimate objects to populate her world.