Really interesting poetry by women. Includes voices of queer women and women of color in the twentieth century. I am a fan of more modern poetry, and I enjoyed these! They were easy to understand and beautiful. (I even found two new favorite poems: The Key To Everything and The Universe, both by May Swenson)
Here is the blurb on the front cover:
"This collection explores what Carolyn Kizer called 'the world's best-kept secret/ Merely the private lives of one-half of humanity.' The modern woman's consciousness begins with Emily Dickinson, who exemplifies the problems and awareness that women poets have experienced since her time. Theirs is a poetry of redefinition; they proclaim themselves in their own words, their own visions, undistorted by the prevalent male definitions of women and women poets. Here are more than one hundred of the best poems by the best women poets, articulating the innermost experiences of being a woman."
Includes poetry from Emily Dickinson, Margaret Atwood, Elinor Wylie, Marianne Moore, Gwendokyn Brooks, May Swenson, Denise Levertov, Besmiler Brigham, Mai Evans, Carolyn Kizer, Anne Sexton, Adreienne Rich, Patricia Goedicke, Sylvia Plath, Marge Piercy, Rochelle Owens, Diane Wakoski, Lyn Lifshin, Erica Jong, and Nikki Giovanni.