Rag Trade: Poems

by Miriam Sagan

One of New Mexico's finest contemporary poets, Miriam Sagan has consistently explored emotional clarity and compassion within life's myriad interactions. In Rag Trade she presents poems of borders--between nations and cultures, in history and the imagination. Crossing borders braids lives. Fabric serves as metaphor throughout these poems, whether the ikats of the Silk Road, prayer flags of Tibet, Rio Grande rug weaving, the garment industry of New Jersey, or Jewish ritual coverings. War, travel, immigration, and trade bring together people and ideas that don't necessarily belong together but which lead to new connections and social dynamics. Rag Trade also includes poems on women artists, such as Southwestern architect Mary Jane Colter and the painter Emily Carr, which reveal the unforeseen but entwining influences on personal history. Miriam Sagan is author of more than a dozen books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Her most recent books include a memoir, Searching for a Mustard Seed, and poetry, Archeology of Desire; The Widow's Coat; and The Art of Love (La Alameda Press). She is also the author of Dirty 100 Days in a Zen Monastery; Unbroken Writing in the Lineage of Poetry; co-editor with Joan Logghe of Another the Jewish Poetry of New Mexico; and co-editor with Sharon Niederman of New Mexico Poetry Renaissance.

Genres: Poetry

133 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2004

About the author

Miriam Sagan founded the creative writing program at Santa Fe Community College. She is author of twenty-five books, including her first novel, Coastal Lives, and her memoir Searching for a Mustard Seed: A Young Widow's Unconventional Story, which won Best Memoir of the Year from Independent Publishers Association.

She won the New Mexico Literary Arts Gratitude Award in Poetry, and has received the Santa Fe Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.