What do You think about The Moon Is Always Female: Poems (1980)?
Marge Piercy is one of the poets I first came into contact with when reading The Norton Introduction to Literature when undoubtedly I should have been doing something else. (The poem was "To Have Without Holding.") I picked up The Moon is Always Female because of the many times my friend S/E has mentioned it as one of her favorites. It's the kind of collection that it's nice to leave out where you can pick it up and randomly re-read a poem or two when the mood strikes you. "For the young who want to" is one of my favorite poems (by any poet) and I never tire of re-reading it. The last stanza: "The real writer is one / who really writes. Talent / is an invention like phlogiston / after the fact of fire. / Work is its own cure. You have to / like it better than being loved."
—Theryn Fleming
I like the collection generally, but some of the poems in the book struck me as dated. I much preferred the selections in "Hand Games" to "The Lunar Cycle." If that makes me less a feminist, so be it. (Maybe it's just that I'm beyond menopause.) My favorite poetry is verse to which I return over and over. I'll keep this in the bookshelf, but it's not likely I'll return to it anytime soon. Some memorable snippets:"Every love has its season, its cultural artifacts...""I am on vacation ... from the fatty broth of my life.""I am my mother's daughter, a small woman of large longings. ... I am her only novel.""... trying to suck wine from that cold umbilicus."
—Marguerite
This book is the fucking best. I bought it in college as required reading for a course, but I go back to it every now and then when I need something comforting. The wonderful thing is, it's a great book for women (men too...but really women) who are 'alone' AND for women in love. If you're like me, you'll come away feeling like someone else GETS IT.Two of the best poems in the book:"To have without holding": http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~richie/po..."For strong women":http://www.pbs.org/wnet/foolingwithwo...
—Lynn Crothers
