Hot Flash Sonnets

by Moira Egan

Poetry. Women's Studies. Poet Moira Egan finally turned fifty, and her poetic journey has gotten ever sweatier and sexier. In her latest collection, HOT FLASH SONNETS, she explores the sultry joys and humorous indignities of becoming a woman of a certain age.

Genres: Poetry

69 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2013

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Moira Egan and the graceful humor of her sonnets. Also, I love sonnets.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so enjoyed this book and want to read others by Moira Egan. I love the premise of writing sonnets about perimenopausal symptoms. What wit! What humor! I'm also curious about her life teaching English and creative writing in Rome.

[Lorrie Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wryly funny and clever. Would be a fun gift for any 49-year-old reader going through menopause. I have reread these sonnets a few times over, for enjoyment.

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of sonnets focusing on a woman going through menopause. With wit, humor, delight, and frustration, these poems are necessary for every woman - and man! - to read.

from Weight Gain: "I understand: metabolism slows / by some inhuman fraction every year, / and mine, it seems, is now that of a slug / such that, one generous Italian meal / (una mezza porzione? not here, love) / means, next day, three pounds extra on the scale."

from Hot Flash: "Or like that dish of mutton vindaloo / (remember how the waiter shook his head, / anticipatory sympathy for you, / misguided Anglo girl), then how it spread, / internal spice combustion, your blood no / longer blood at all, but habanero."

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impassioned sonnet virtuoso Moira Egan makes a magnificent obsession of the passing of the menses in Hot Flash Sonnets. Lusty candor is here galore—if the Wyf of Bath were reincarnated as a sonneteer, she would be Moira Egan—but it’s the skill of this poet that dazzles, for she turns her stunning sequence into a vast landscape, contouring matters of beauty and aging in divinely controlled lines.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this collection of theme sonnets. The format and design of the book was beautiful. The sonnets are great. This is a great collection to read cover to cover, and one to come back to read from.
I haven't read a lot of poetry this year, so I really enjoyed reading it. Poetry for aging chicks. Yeah!!