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PM's Outspoken Authors #15
My Life, My Body
In a candid and intimate new collection of essays, poems, memoirs, reviews, rants, and railleries, Piercy discusses her own development as a working-class feminist, the highs and lows of TV culture, the ego-dances of a writer’s life, the homeless and the housewife, Allen Ginsberg and Marilyn Monroe, feminist utopias (and why she doesn’t live in one), why fiction isn’t physics; and of course, fame, sex, and money, not necessarily in that order. The short essays, poems, and personal memoirs intermingle like shards of glass that shine, reflect—and cut. Always personal yet always political, Piercy’s work is drawn from a deep well of feminist and political activism. Also featured is our Outspoken Interview, in which the author lays out her personal rules for living on Cape Cod, finding your poetic voice, and making friends in Cuba.
128 pages, Paperback
First published June 18, 2015
4 people are currently reading
262 people want to read
About the author
Marge Piercy
113 books924 followersMarge Piercy is an American poet, novelist, and social activist. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Gone 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 them The Moon is Always Female (1980, considered a feminist classic) and The 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. While Body 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 Light is set during the French Revolution. Other of her novels, such as Summer People and The Longings of Women are 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 credited Woman on the Edge of Time as the birthplace of Cyberpunk. Piercy tells this in an introduction to Body 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 in Gone To Soldiers is 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)
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 them The Moon is Always Female (1980, considered a feminist classic) and The 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. While Body 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 Light is set during the French Revolution. Other of her novels, such as Summer People and The Longings of Women are 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 credited Woman on the Edge of Time as the birthplace of Cyberpunk. Piercy tells this in an introduction to Body 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 in Gone To Soldiers is 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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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 27, 2019
I am a big fan of the PM Press Outspoken Authors series, and a big fan of Marge Piercy, so this should have been a slam dunk. And I didn't love it.
Most of the books in these series have one long-ish piece, one shorter piece, and the signature interview with Terry Bisson. Piercy, on the other hand, contributed more than a dozen two- and three-page prose pieces, which are sometimes repetitive of each other, and didn't tell me much that I didn't already know, having read her autobiography. And while (or perhaps because) her politics are a lot like mine, the most political pieces read like lectures telling me what I already know.
The interview with Bisson is fun, though they seem to have been somewhat out of sync with one another. The best part of the book is the poetry, which is certainly one of Piercy's finer skills.
I'd say it's a reasonable introduction to Piercy's nonfiction and poetry, but it really doesn't add any depth if you're familiar with both of those already. Pick out another volume in the series instead.
Most of the books in these series have one long-ish piece, one shorter piece, and the signature interview with Terry Bisson. Piercy, on the other hand, contributed more than a dozen two- and three-page prose pieces, which are sometimes repetitive of each other, and didn't tell me much that I didn't already know, having read her autobiography. And while (or perhaps because) her politics are a lot like mine, the most political pieces read like lectures telling me what I already know.
The interview with Bisson is fun, though they seem to have been somewhat out of sync with one another. The best part of the book is the poetry, which is certainly one of Piercy's finer skills.
I'd say it's a reasonable introduction to Piercy's nonfiction and poetry, but it really doesn't add any depth if you're familiar with both of those already. Pick out another volume in the series instead.
April 11, 2017
All the stars, all the hearts.
Usually when I read something I intend to review, I start taking pictures of passages I might want to share. Except first, I realized it was too many pictures, then I started dog-earing all the pages that had something that resonated. (I NEVER dog-ear.) After marking at least ten pages in a row, I started crying.
And I cried and cried as I read the lines that were like somebody took the little voice in my head, gave her form, and set her in my living room, where she told me: "I see you. I hear you. You are valid. Women are valid. You are not overreacting."
Piercy writes, in one piece, about women writers that are dismissed or just unseen by the literary gatekeepers. On censorship:
"Most men still read few women and few writers of color, whether male or female. They still make their lists with one or two token women. They still give their prizes and grants to each other. Like the censorship of the Right, the censorship of the white males who run most arts organizations, departments of literature and writing, foundations and committees, appears to those exercising this exclusion as just, moral and The Way Things Not Only Are But Ought To Be Forevermore."
This is near and dear to my heart, this idea of getting the words of women writers, writers of color, LGBTQ writers, into the hands of readers. How can we ever imagine what it's like inside the skin of a person who differs from ourselves if the only voices we allow ourselves to hear are the white men telling most of the promoted/marketed/endcapped/journal-reviewed stories? The best we can achieve is an homogenization of the "human" (default: culturally dominant male) perspective.
"But what we do is change consciousness a tiny bit at a time. Through fiction, we enable people to walk in someone else's shoes, boots moccasins for a few hours, which may persuade us that the Others as we define them are human too."
And lest I recover from my tears too soon, she then goes on to write about the kinds of stories women write, and tell each other; the speculative fiction, how their Utopias (and Dystopias) are so very different from the ones men tend to tell.
"One characteristic of societies imagined by feminists is how little isolated women are from one another."
"Another characteristic of feminist utopias: freedom from fear of rape and domestic violence. All of them seek to eliminate domination of one person over another."
"Nurturing is a strong value."
"Some feminist utopias contain men and some do not. None of them contain men as we commonly think of men today, as the dominant, normative head of society."
She laments the loss of creativity and storytelling when women and minorities must pour so much of our energy into the political defense of gains we have already made, defending everything from women's studies, to affirmative action, to safe medical abortion.
For my friends who may see this review, if you would like to have a peek inside my mind, soul, and heart, you couldn't do much better than reading this little book, my own copy now being penciled in and marked up like I was studying for midterms. It would certainly give us much to discuss.
Usually when I read something I intend to review, I start taking pictures of passages I might want to share. Except first, I realized it was too many pictures, then I started dog-earing all the pages that had something that resonated. (I NEVER dog-ear.) After marking at least ten pages in a row, I started crying.
And I cried and cried as I read the lines that were like somebody took the little voice in my head, gave her form, and set her in my living room, where she told me: "I see you. I hear you. You are valid. Women are valid. You are not overreacting."
Piercy writes, in one piece, about women writers that are dismissed or just unseen by the literary gatekeepers. On censorship:
"Most men still read few women and few writers of color, whether male or female. They still make their lists with one or two token women. They still give their prizes and grants to each other. Like the censorship of the Right, the censorship of the white males who run most arts organizations, departments of literature and writing, foundations and committees, appears to those exercising this exclusion as just, moral and The Way Things Not Only Are But Ought To Be Forevermore."
This is near and dear to my heart, this idea of getting the words of women writers, writers of color, LGBTQ writers, into the hands of readers. How can we ever imagine what it's like inside the skin of a person who differs from ourselves if the only voices we allow ourselves to hear are the white men telling most of the promoted/marketed/endcapped/journal-reviewed stories? The best we can achieve is an homogenization of the "human" (default: culturally dominant male) perspective.
"But what we do is change consciousness a tiny bit at a time. Through fiction, we enable people to walk in someone else's shoes, boots moccasins for a few hours, which may persuade us that the Others as we define them are human too."
And lest I recover from my tears too soon, she then goes on to write about the kinds of stories women write, and tell each other; the speculative fiction, how their Utopias (and Dystopias) are so very different from the ones men tend to tell.
"One characteristic of societies imagined by feminists is how little isolated women are from one another."
"Another characteristic of feminist utopias: freedom from fear of rape and domestic violence. All of them seek to eliminate domination of one person over another."
"Nurturing is a strong value."
"Some feminist utopias contain men and some do not. None of them contain men as we commonly think of men today, as the dominant, normative head of society."
She laments the loss of creativity and storytelling when women and minorities must pour so much of our energy into the political defense of gains we have already made, defending everything from women's studies, to affirmative action, to safe medical abortion.
For my friends who may see this review, if you would like to have a peek inside my mind, soul, and heart, you couldn't do much better than reading this little book, my own copy now being penciled in and marked up like I was studying for midterms. It would certainly give us much to discuss.
October 25, 2016
Wonderfully left-wing publishing house PM Press has been putting out a series called Outspoken Authors which consists of collections of writings by visionary left-leaning writers, most of them writers of sff. I've read and talked a number of these before, including volumes that contained selected works (and an original interview) with people like Ursula Le Guin, Nalo Hopkinson, Kim Stanley Robinson, Terry Bisson and Eleanor Arnason.
My latest read from this series is a collection of essays, poems and other works from Marge Piercy called My Life, My Body. Woven through all the selections is a strong, politically and socially radical consciousness, conjoined with a commitment to feminist analysis, addressing topics ranging from the effects of gentrification on marginalised communities to the enforcement of a white male canon in literature.
Her focus ranges from social justice to literary criticism. Several of the selections here deal, in part or in whole, with the growing problem of homelessness, particularly among women. Others argue passionately against the trend in criticism that demands the separation of politics and art, and devalues literature written from a political consciousness (which, she notes, is often work created by women and marginalised peoples.
In addition to the essays and poems, the volume includes an interesting interview with Piercy conducted by fellow leftist and science fiction writer Terry Bisson.
If you're a fan of Piercy's work, you'll appreciate the pieces collected here immensely. And after that, I heartily recommend that you have a look at other volumes from the Outspoken Writers series.
My latest read from this series is a collection of essays, poems and other works from Marge Piercy called My Life, My Body. Woven through all the selections is a strong, politically and socially radical consciousness, conjoined with a commitment to feminist analysis, addressing topics ranging from the effects of gentrification on marginalised communities to the enforcement of a white male canon in literature.
Her focus ranges from social justice to literary criticism. Several of the selections here deal, in part or in whole, with the growing problem of homelessness, particularly among women. Others argue passionately against the trend in criticism that demands the separation of politics and art, and devalues literature written from a political consciousness (which, she notes, is often work created by women and marginalised peoples.
In addition to the essays and poems, the volume includes an interesting interview with Piercy conducted by fellow leftist and science fiction writer Terry Bisson.
If you're a fan of Piercy's work, you'll appreciate the pieces collected here immensely. And after that, I heartily recommend that you have a look at other volumes from the Outspoken Writers series.
September 30, 2016
In her series of essays, My Life, My Body, Marge Piercy delves into issues that are familiar to me, from reading her various fictional pieces.
She is also a poet, but I gravitate more to her novels. Like the protagonists in those various novels, Piercy writes about social issues like homelessness, living off the grid, feminism, gentrification, and aging.
Women’s issues predominate in her fictional work, as well as in this book. These issues resonate with me, and keep me buying her various books.
The first novel I read by this author was Small Changes, and I shared my thoughts about it in a book club I had joined. The book had a profound effect on my life. “Set against the early days of the modern feminist movement, SMALL CHANGES tells the story of sensual Miriam Berg, who trades her doctorate for marriage and security, but still hungers for a life of her own and shy, frightened Beth who is running from the life Miriam seeks and into a new world of different ideas and a different kind of love.....”
The ideas and philosophies that I have discovered in her fiction are touched on in this collection of essays, so this book will also join the novels on my bookshelves. Books I will keep even when I’m purging my shelves. Marge Piercy is a writer who seems to “speak to me.” 5 stars.
She is also a poet, but I gravitate more to her novels. Like the protagonists in those various novels, Piercy writes about social issues like homelessness, living off the grid, feminism, gentrification, and aging.
Women’s issues predominate in her fictional work, as well as in this book. These issues resonate with me, and keep me buying her various books.
The first novel I read by this author was Small Changes, and I shared my thoughts about it in a book club I had joined. The book had a profound effect on my life. “Set against the early days of the modern feminist movement, SMALL CHANGES tells the story of sensual Miriam Berg, who trades her doctorate for marriage and security, but still hungers for a life of her own and shy, frightened Beth who is running from the life Miriam seeks and into a new world of different ideas and a different kind of love.....”
The ideas and philosophies that I have discovered in her fiction are touched on in this collection of essays, so this book will also join the novels on my bookshelves. Books I will keep even when I’m purging my shelves. Marge Piercy is a writer who seems to “speak to me.” 5 stars.
October 29, 2015
Essays and poetry from one of America's greatest living writers. I always enjoy reading Marge Piercy because she leaves nothing out, it's all there. She's probably my all-time favorite writer.
December 20, 2018
This book made me cry like a baby. I felt like Marge Piercy was writing directly to me. What a gift to feel understood.
December 19, 2021
Good and succinct writing on what makes writers tick, it felt rooted in understanding between generations and class but not total forgiveness - there’s an anger that belies her writing that makes you want to take up arms and write poetry that spits venom at the people who prey on the poor, the oppressed, the vulnerable. I liked her imagination and her fire. Notably left out queerness on a lot of her talking points about marginalized identities, though.
May 12, 2024
This special collection from the Outspoken Authors series has twelve essays, six poems, and an interview with the author.
Like the last volume in this series, this was primarily a book of nonfiction. The author's essays covered anywhere from her childhood to Marilyn Monroe to homeless women to gentrification to politics in fiction. This was my first exposure to Marge Piercy, so I wasn't familiar with any of her books that she referenced. I did enjoy the poetry included in this book, but they made up less than 10% of the book, so I'm reviewing this primarily as a work of nonfiction.
She was quite the feminist socialist activist poet, and her novels sound heavily political as well. The most SF-related piece was "Why Speculate on the Future?" which include a nice discussion of feminist utopias in time. I thought "Fame, Fortune, and Other Tawdry Illusions" was a really good look at how she's interacted with the public and the awkwardness involved.
Like the last volume in this series, this was primarily a book of nonfiction. The author's essays covered anywhere from her childhood to Marilyn Monroe to homeless women to gentrification to politics in fiction. This was my first exposure to Marge Piercy, so I wasn't familiar with any of her books that she referenced. I did enjoy the poetry included in this book, but they made up less than 10% of the book, so I'm reviewing this primarily as a work of nonfiction.
She was quite the feminist socialist activist poet, and her novels sound heavily political as well. The most SF-related piece was "Why Speculate on the Future?" which include a nice discussion of feminist utopias in time. I thought "Fame, Fortune, and Other Tawdry Illusions" was a really good look at how she's interacted with the public and the awkwardness involved.
June 23, 2017
Really digging these little PM Press books that highlight authors who with political engagement and activist leanings. Marge Piercy is a great example of a working class feminist who created her own literary career and I enjoyed hanging out with her in these pages.
February 11, 2022
"Sleeping with Cats" is Piercy's original memoir and goes into her Detroit upbringing in a gritty working class, mixed race neighborhood as well as her time in college at University of Michigan and her participation in the radical Left movement during the Vietnam War.
This book expands on the memoir of her life, and I actually like it even more, although you should read "Cats" before this book because it's a series of interviews, essays and poems written to illuminate the prose.
Growing up poor, with uncaring parents who would buy a new car but let her toothache ride with chewed aspirin for the pain, she had plenty to be angry about. Angry about the right things, injustice, racism, repression of women, sexual freedom vs traditional marriage and children. Even though I am not on the same side of the political spectrum at all, I too am angry about the same injustices. I met some the same people (being only a few years after her at UM and at the height of the War Protests and like Piercy, a close friend also won a Hopwood Award, the university's prestigious literary award that helped Piercy finish school and go on to more education at Northwestern. Later, she started a small press for mid-range authors who are increasingly shut out of book publication. The same fate, sadly, that has now befallen her latest novel. A shame.
She's published some 17 or 18 novels and equal number of volumes of poetry. She leads a juried poetry workshop at her home in Wellfleet, Mass and also does "urban" farming there. An interesting book, the poetry is powerful and you can get to know this talented American feminist author a lot better. I equate her (sorta) to Margaret Atwood of Canada and several of her novels are among my favorites and I love her poetry. If you don't know her, get to know her.
This book expands on the memoir of her life, and I actually like it even more, although you should read "Cats" before this book because it's a series of interviews, essays and poems written to illuminate the prose.
Growing up poor, with uncaring parents who would buy a new car but let her toothache ride with chewed aspirin for the pain, she had plenty to be angry about. Angry about the right things, injustice, racism, repression of women, sexual freedom vs traditional marriage and children. Even though I am not on the same side of the political spectrum at all, I too am angry about the same injustices. I met some the same people (being only a few years after her at UM and at the height of the War Protests and like Piercy, a close friend also won a Hopwood Award, the university's prestigious literary award that helped Piercy finish school and go on to more education at Northwestern. Later, she started a small press for mid-range authors who are increasingly shut out of book publication. The same fate, sadly, that has now befallen her latest novel. A shame.
She's published some 17 or 18 novels and equal number of volumes of poetry. She leads a juried poetry workshop at her home in Wellfleet, Mass and also does "urban" farming there. An interesting book, the poetry is powerful and you can get to know this talented American feminist author a lot better. I equate her (sorta) to Margaret Atwood of Canada and several of her novels are among my favorites and I love her poetry. If you don't know her, get to know her.
August 31, 2024
Marge Piercy is a radical Jewish feminist, growing up poor in the neighborhoods of Detroit and getting involved in the anti-war movement in the 1960s, and joining the Students for a Democratic Society. That's just background, though.
What she is, is a talented poet and observer of the human condition, including the role that capitalism plays in American life and politics. She is that rare breed who has had success as both a poet and novelist, as well as having an active life as an activist.
This PM Press Outspoken Author book from 2015 showcases a bit of poetry, and a number of essays that are reprinted, plus a few original to this book. There's also an interview with her, as is common with this series.
Probably the most stunning and depressing is the original title essay, 'My Life, My Body', wherein she talks about her illegal abortion before Roe vs. Wade, and how awful it was before women could receive competent, safe health care. She throws down the gauntlet with the opinion that women have the right to make their own decisions and receive the medical treatment they determine that they need, without risk of imprisonment or death.
The situation she bemoans as belonging to the past is once again the reality in many American states.
Other essays talk about the marginalization of women, especially in the field of writing where she was working, and especially in poetry where she was indoctrinated into the type of poetry she could safely write. She had to break free of that concept to find her own voice, which she largely credits to Allen Ginsberg and a few other poets.
These little PM Press booklets are a great way to dip into an author's mind and a sampling of their work.
What she is, is a talented poet and observer of the human condition, including the role that capitalism plays in American life and politics. She is that rare breed who has had success as both a poet and novelist, as well as having an active life as an activist.
This PM Press Outspoken Author book from 2015 showcases a bit of poetry, and a number of essays that are reprinted, plus a few original to this book. There's also an interview with her, as is common with this series.
Probably the most stunning and depressing is the original title essay, 'My Life, My Body', wherein she talks about her illegal abortion before Roe vs. Wade, and how awful it was before women could receive competent, safe health care. She throws down the gauntlet with the opinion that women have the right to make their own decisions and receive the medical treatment they determine that they need, without risk of imprisonment or death.
The situation she bemoans as belonging to the past is once again the reality in many American states.
Other essays talk about the marginalization of women, especially in the field of writing where she was working, and especially in poetry where she was indoctrinated into the type of poetry she could safely write. She had to break free of that concept to find her own voice, which she largely credits to Allen Ginsberg and a few other poets.
These little PM Press booklets are a great way to dip into an author's mind and a sampling of their work.
October 13, 2023
Disappointed. I had enjoyed one or two of Marge Piercy's novels, and I'm always curious about women who manage to carve out their own path. Her life as a radical feminist with leftist political views and involvement in the social movements of the 1970s has undoubtedly been very interesting. But this little book seemed a hastily thrown together hodgepodge of essays, poems and an interview.
It turns out that I don't like Marge Piercy's poetry, which I find too didactic, too lecturing. The essays didn't teach me anything I didn't know already. Yes, I'm sure the gentrification of Cape Cod is irritating, and that things were better in the 1970s when it was a refuge for Bohemians. Yes, I am sure that some of the literary fans that you meet at conferences and signings are very demanding. Yes, I can readily believe that you were very impressed by Alan Ginsberg's poetry when you first encountered it.
What particularly struck me was how many many sentences or statements were repeated between the essays or the essays and the interview. "My house on Cape Cod was built for 25,000 $ by a bunch of hippies." "My husband and I ran a small press for 10 years until we couldn't afford to do it any more."
So all in all I came away with the impression that this book was like a meal concocted from leftovers, with nothing original, nothing new. Which is a pity, because, as stated above, I think Marge Piercy's life must have been very interesting. All in all, a lost opportunity.
It turns out that I don't like Marge Piercy's poetry, which I find too didactic, too lecturing. The essays didn't teach me anything I didn't know already. Yes, I'm sure the gentrification of Cape Cod is irritating, and that things were better in the 1970s when it was a refuge for Bohemians. Yes, I am sure that some of the literary fans that you meet at conferences and signings are very demanding. Yes, I can readily believe that you were very impressed by Alan Ginsberg's poetry when you first encountered it.
What particularly struck me was how many many sentences or statements were repeated between the essays or the essays and the interview. "My house on Cape Cod was built for 25,000 $ by a bunch of hippies." "My husband and I ran a small press for 10 years until we couldn't afford to do it any more."
So all in all I came away with the impression that this book was like a meal concocted from leftovers, with nothing original, nothing new. Which is a pity, because, as stated above, I think Marge Piercy's life must have been very interesting. All in all, a lost opportunity.
November 9, 2023
A superb collection of essays on topics from writing to gentrification, from homelessness to abortion. Piercy has a remarkable way with language, even beyond the usual way most writers have if they're going to make a name for themselves through letters.
To wit, regarding censorship: "This we find ourselves dealing with censorship without and within the arts community, and often within our own brains. I fear entropic death by Vanilla Pudding."
Regarding how she teaches writing: "I don't actually teach a lot. […] You can teach craft. Beyond that, it's pretty much bullshit."
Regarding men in Congress trying to ban abortion and contraception while cutting day care and food stamps: "I wonder if the problem isn't that the senators and congressmen feel that there are not enough sixteen-year-old prostitutes on the streets of Washington, DC."
Recommended with all possible enthusiasm.
To wit, regarding censorship: "This we find ourselves dealing with censorship without and within the arts community, and often within our own brains. I fear entropic death by Vanilla Pudding."
Regarding how she teaches writing: "I don't actually teach a lot. […] You can teach craft. Beyond that, it's pretty much bullshit."
Regarding men in Congress trying to ban abortion and contraception while cutting day care and food stamps: "I wonder if the problem isn't that the senators and congressmen feel that there are not enough sixteen-year-old prostitutes on the streets of Washington, DC."
Recommended with all possible enthusiasm.
July 9, 2017
I'm a big fan of Marge Piercy's novels -- Gone to Soldiers is one of the best -- so this collection of essays was somewhat disappointing. Her arguments, about issues she (and I) care deeply about seem predictable and sometimes dated. I'm sure I will reread and reference her essays on writing and fiction. In fact, I think she makes her point(s) of view with more clarity and nuance in the novels, when she can have different characters provide different perspectives and bounce off each other. One poem I absolutely loved, "The hows, there is no why," a very practical guide on how to get food and material goods when you have no money.
December 21, 2020
My Life, My Body is a must-read recent (2015) collection of short essays, poems, and memoir sketches for those who have read Piercy's poems and essays. It is also a good introduction to this writer's passions and commitments, giving context to an ongoing writing life, crossing multiple genres. The essays never become the disembodied, bloodless musings of a feminist academic, who would raise up exceptional women, while easily throwing a female colleague under the bus for a perceived advantage. Her feminism is intersectional with clear boundaries, aware of class and color on gender and sexual orientation, and as nourishing as good bread around the kitchen table.
January 16, 2023
Rediscovered PM Press yesterday at a new local bakery/bookstore. I've read many of Piercy's novels, but not in several years.
This is a telling anthology. Was especially drawn to the long interview, her discussion of abortion rights and legacy of women, the political dominance of males and feminist utopias.
A slender book, there's much to contemplate.
This is a telling anthology. Was especially drawn to the long interview, her discussion of abortion rights and legacy of women, the political dominance of males and feminist utopias.
A slender book, there's much to contemplate.
December 5, 2020
Like many other authors from the 1960's and 70's that I've just stumbled on, Marge Piercy comes across as a breath of fresh air. My first book by her, she leaves you feeling edified and uplifted, pushed to keep thinking and doing.
February 15, 2021
“Literature, if we bother to read it and support it, has power and it can help us survive and win”
Im so glad I read this powerful and short collection of essays and poetry by Marge Piercy!
Im so glad I read this powerful and short collection of essays and poetry by Marge Piercy!
December 8, 2021
I'm thinking Amy Coney Barrett needs to read more Marge Piercy.
April 28, 2023
The title essay was the best. The poetry is blunt. The bits about changing life on the Outer Cape Cod were interesting, I didn't know anything about that before.
May 10, 2025
This little volume should be required reading for all Americans in this present moment. It probably should be read by others as well, especially the title essay.
November 16, 2024
A collection of essays and poetry from one of my favourite artists. Piercy writes of her background as a Jewish girl growing up in working class, Detroit. She then goes on to write about a range of issues - gentrification of working, artistic places; homelessness, particularly among women; the devastating effects of the right wing push to criminalise abortion and the lack of gumption by fiction writers to be political, which she believes is essential to writing creatively: "For me, writing fiction issues from the impulse to tell the stories of people who deserved their lives examined and their stories told to people who deserve to read good stories. I'm responsible to many people with buried lives, people who have been rendered invisible in history as they are powerless in society...To find ourselves spoken for in poetry gives dignity to our pain, our anger, our lust, our losses."
She also writes about speculative and science fiction where she describes utopias written by women where "how little isolated women are from one another", "All of them seek to eliminate domination of one person over another...Nurturing is a strong value", "The societies portrayed in feminist visionary novels are usually communal".
Poems are also littered throughout the book - a glimpse into her gift of poetry to us.
I have read most of Marge Piercy's work and this small book brings back to me the depth, intelligence, humanity and feminist vision of her writing. She describes herself as a midlist writer but her writing is exceptional in its integrity, commitment to social justice and feminist vision.
She also writes about speculative and science fiction where she describes utopias written by women where "how little isolated women are from one another", "All of them seek to eliminate domination of one person over another...Nurturing is a strong value", "The societies portrayed in feminist visionary novels are usually communal".
Poems are also littered throughout the book - a glimpse into her gift of poetry to us.
I have read most of Marge Piercy's work and this small book brings back to me the depth, intelligence, humanity and feminist vision of her writing. She describes herself as a midlist writer but her writing is exceptional in its integrity, commitment to social justice and feminist vision.
November 30, 2015
A fantastic collection including essays and poetry by Marge Piercy and an interview with the author. Topics include feminism, writing, Alan Ginsberg, censorship, abortion, Marilyn Monroe, homelessness, and class disparity.
This is another in PM Press' outstanding Outspoken Author Series featuring writers including Ursula K. Le Guin, Karen Joy Fowler, Eleanor Arnason, and Terry Bisson — slim volumes dense in nutrition. Always food for thought. Highly recommend.
This is another in PM Press' outstanding Outspoken Author Series featuring writers including Ursula K. Le Guin, Karen Joy Fowler, Eleanor Arnason, and Terry Bisson — slim volumes dense in nutrition. Always food for thought. Highly recommend.
January 2, 2020
powerful, political, unabashed.
Piercy's essays are pointed, but also often intensely personal. Her poetry appears to have been selected to pair with each essay, which is an interesting choice, in that it both clarifies the intended message, but also makes it self-evident, and thus the first few poems read as lightweight, despite their messages.
Piercy's essays are pointed, but also often intensely personal. Her poetry appears to have been selected to pair with each essay, which is an interesting choice, in that it both clarifies the intended message, but also makes it self-evident, and thus the first few poems read as lightweight, despite their messages.
February 6, 2016
Perceptive anthology of essays and poems that are reflective and important, serious feminist works. The title essay is new which documents the time before Roe vs Wade. More feminist than L.
February 29, 2016
Mostly essays, not much fiction.
March 23, 2016
Excellent, thought provoking good of essay and poems
May 31, 2016
good essays & poetry
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