Description
Now in paperback, a collection to treasure from one of our most popular poets: poems that range from the Detroit of her childhood to her current life on Cape Cod, from deep appreciations of the natural world to elegies for lost friends and fellow poets.
In her trademark style combining the sublime with gritty reality, Marge Piercy describes the night she was born: "the sky burned red / over Detroit and sirens sharpened their knives. / The elms made tents of solace over grimy / streets and alley cats purred me to sleep." She writes in graphic, unflinching language about the poor, banished now by politicians, no longer "real people like corporations." There are elegies for her peer group of poets, gone now, whose work she cherishes but from whom she cannot help but want more. There are laments for the suicide of dolphins and for her beloved cats, as she remembers "exactly how I loved each." She continues to celebrate Jewish holidays in compellingly original ways, and sings the praises of her marriage and the small pleasures of life. A stunning collection in the best Piercy tradition.
About the Author
Marge Piercy is an American poet, novelist, and social activist. She is the author of theNew York TimesbestsellerGone to Soldiers, a sweeping historical novel set during World War II.Piercy was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a family deeply affected by the Great Depression. She was the first in her family to attend college, studying at the University of Michigan. Winning a Hopwood Award for Poetry and Fiction (1957) enabled her to finish college and spend some time in France, and her formal schooling ended with an M.A. from Northwestern University. Her first book of poems,Breaking Camp, was published in 1968.An indifferent student in her early years, Piercy developed a love of books when she came down with rheumatic fever in her mid-childhood and could do little but read. "It taught me that there's a different world there, that there were all these horizons that were quite different from what I could see," she said in a 1984 interview.As of 2013, she is author of seventeen volumes of poems, among themThe Moon is Always Female(1980, considered a feminist classic) andThe Art of Blessing the Day(1999), as well as fifteen novels, one play (The Last White Class, co-authored with her third and current husband Ira Wood), one collection of essays (Parti-colored Blocks for a Quilt), one non-fiction book, and one memoir.Her novels and poetry often focus on feminist or social concerns, although her settings vary. WhileBody of Glass(published in the US as He, She and It) is a science fiction novel that won the Arthur C. Clarke Award,City of Darkness, City of Lightis set during the French Revolution. Other of her novels, such asSummer PeopleandThe Longings of Womenare set during the modern day. All of her books share a focus on women's lives.Woman on the Edge of Time(1976) mixes a time travel story with issues of social justice, feminism, and the treatment of the mentally ill. This novel is considered a classic of utopian "speculative" science fiction as well as a feminist classic. William Gibson has creditedWoman on the Edge of Timeas the birthplace of Cyberpunk. Piercy tells this in an introduction toBody of Glass.Body of Glass (He, She and It)(1991) postulates an environmentally ruined world dominated by sprawling mega-cities and a futuristic version of the Internet, through which Piercy weaves elements of Jewish mysticism and the legend of the Golem, although a key story element is the main character's attempts to regain custody of her young son.Many of Piercy's novels tell their stories from the viewpoints of multiple characters, often including a first-person voice among numerous third-person narratives. Her World War II historical novel,Gone To Soldiers(1987) follows the lives of nine major characters in the United States, Europe and Asia. The first-person account inGone To Soldiersis the diary of French teenager Jacqueline Levy-Monot, who is also followed in a third-person account after her capture by the Nazis.Piercy's poetry tends to be highly personal free verse and often addresses the same concern with feminist and social issues. Her work shows commitment to the dream of social change (what she might call, in Judaic terms, tikkun olam, or the repair of the world), rooted in story, the wheel of the Jewish year, and a range of landscapes and settings.She lives in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, Massachusetts with her husband, Ira Wood.(from Wikipedia)
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