I was asked by Iris Mahan and Danielle Barnhart if I might contribute to Women of Resistance–Poems for a New Feminism last year. I was working on my novel (the same one, yes the same one I’m finishing now), but I wrote a poem, “January, After El Niño,” that just came out easily. It wasn’t an easy subject–but I think I just felt myself drawn to the poem in a way that was very natural and inevitable. Those are rare times for me, so when they happen, I cherish them immensely.
And now, it’s finally out! When I finally received my copy, I was thrilled. This is such a wonderful anthology. There are a lot of names here I don’t know, and I think that is what makes this anthology so necessary–by linking women across the common theme of resistance, rather than identity or ethnicity or religion–it offers a very different cross section of work. I would recommend this book to anyone who might want to examine how voices of women often transcend culture even as they preserve and nurture it.
I am profoundly honored to be included!