Poetry | Women's Voices For Change

Poetry Sunday: “To the Women Poets,” by Kim Bridgford

By Rebecca Foust

I love the poem’s strong, brave assertions and authority in claiming a place for women poets in the pantheon of literary achievement.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “on issues of aliens, immigration and cosmology,” by Devorah Major

By Rebecca Foust

These are precarious times for immigrants in our country, one reason I was drawn to today’s poem, a somewhat metaphysical musing on what it means to be an immigrant, an alien, or any kind of “other” in the world.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Patois,” by Lisa Allen Ortiz

By Susan Cohen

I call what Ortiz has done here semi-surreal because she presents enough concrete detail to ground us even as those flocks of words flit around dreamlike in their stunning aviary.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Our Twenty-first Summer, Chimney Swifts,” by Christine Rhein

By Rebecca Foust

“Our Twenty-First Summer, Chimney Swifts” is an example of two great gifts poetry—appreciation for things often taken for granted and a genuine, deep consolation for the losses that affect us all.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Clea’s Side of the Story,” by Roxane Beth Johnson

By Rebecca Foust

Today’s poem offers a part of the history widely ignored or sanitized in my generation’s schoolbooks: the enslavement of African Americans in this country.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Meditation in Middle Age,” by Catherine Tufariello

By Rebecca Foust

We understand then, as the poet wants us to, that the change in vision that age affords is more than mere consolation; it is age, rather than youth, that is more beautiful and a thing to be valued, not feared.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “The Yukon Quest,” by Therése Halscheid

By Rebecca Foust

“The Yukon Quest” makes me glad again that I live in a mild climate. But what a pleasure to curl up somewhere warm with a mug of hot chocolate and read poems like this.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Incident,” by Natasha Trethewey

By Rebecca Foust

With Martin Luther King, Jr. Day coming up tomorrow, and the Inauguration of a new president on January 20, it seems like an important time to remember our country’s fraught and tragic racial history.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “More Words for Snow,” by Annie Kim

By Rebecca Foust

In coining new descriptors for snow, Annie Kim finds words to express her sense of the unresolvable larger paradox that is love’s and even life’s ever-present oxymoron of beauty and loss.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Solstice,” by Barbara Crooker

By Rebecca Foust

I love “Solstice” by Barbara Crooker for its brevity and simplicity and ability to convey a hope that, if tenuous, at least does not seem foolish or false.

Arts & Culture · Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Advent,” by Mary Jo Salter

By Rebecca Foust

“Advent” gives us a wonderful gift: the holiday experience in a decidedly un-Hallmark context of a home that is not intact and perfect.

Arts & Culture · Poetry

Poetry Sunday: Three Poems from “Walking in on People,” by Melissa Balmain

By Rebecca Foust

"Walking in on People" features unpretentious poems treating everyday subjects with an intelligence hip to modern cultural nuance, and also laugh-out-loud funny.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Chiaroscuro,” by Chana Bloch

By Rebecca Foust

What I appreciate about “Chiaroscuro” is that Bloch writes in the style she’s honed over thirty years, work that seems easy, even entertaining but that rewards thought.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Night Bed,” by Leslie Contreras Schwartz

By Rebecca Foust

I don’t believe that mothering is inherent or ingrained; that is a myth. My attempt in this poem was to try to describe a part of this growing relationship.

Poetry

Poetry Sunday: “Fig,” by Amy Glynn

By Rebecca Foust

“Fig” is a wonderful lyric to a fruit that, at least in Amy Glynn’s treatment, becomes the epitome of extreme satisfaction, the perfect poem after many of us have just enjoyed our annual Thanksgiving feasts.

Women's Voices For Change

Articles onPoetry

Poetry Sunday: “To the Women Poets,” by Kim Bridgford

Poetry Sunday: “on issues of aliens, immigration and cosmology,” by Devorah Major

Poetry Sunday: “Patois,” by Lisa Allen Ortiz

Poetry Sunday: “Our Twenty-first Summer, Chimney Swifts,” by Christine Rhein

Poetry Sunday: “Clea’s Side of the Story,” by Roxane Beth Johnson

Poetry Sunday: “Meditation in Middle Age,” by Catherine Tufariello

Poetry Sunday: “The Yukon Quest,” by Therése Halscheid

Poetry Sunday: “Incident,” by Natasha Trethewey

Poetry Sunday: “More Words for Snow,” by Annie Kim

Poetry Sunday: “Solstice,” by Barbara Crooker

Poetry Sunday: “Advent,” by Mary Jo Salter

Poetry Sunday: Three Poems from “Walking in on People,” by Melissa Balmain

Poetry Sunday: “Chiaroscuro,” by Chana Bloch

Poetry Sunday: “Night Bed,” by Leslie Contreras Schwartz

Poetry Sunday: “Fig,” by Amy Glynn

Home