Her seventh and most wide ranging collection. In the 1st of 2 sections, the poems move from the amusingly elegiac to the erotic, the classical to t...
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May 10, 2011
Bennet
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Marge Piercy is a phenomenal woman and writer. I can hardly take her novels they are so densely ladden with the minutiae and ordeals of daily living, but she knows what she's doing and does it as only she can, and god I admire her, even though she rarely writes the sort of novel I want to read. I like her best as poet. As poet of the female, she wows me, and infatuates and pains and angers and humors. This is my favorite Piercy collection.
Here is the heart of fire in the caves More...
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Jul 03, 2010
Theryn
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Marge Piercy is one of the poets I first came into contact with when reading The Norton Introduction to Literature when undoubtedly I should have been doing something else. (The poem was "To Have Without Holding.") I picked up The Moon is Always Female because of the many times my friend S/E has mentioned it as one of her favorites. It's the kind of collection that it's nice to leave out where you can pick it up and randomly re-read a poem or two when the mood strikes you. "For th
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Mar 05, 2008
beauregard
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To Have Without Holding
Marge Piercy
Learning to love differently is hard,
love with the hands wide open, love
with the doors banging on their hinges,
the cupboard unlocked, the wind
roaring and whimpering in the rooms
rustling the sheets and snapping the blinds
that thwack like rubber bands
in an open palm.
It hurts to love wide open
stretching the muscles that feel
as if they are made of wet plaster,
then of blunt kni More...
Marge Piercy
Learning to love differently is hard,
love with the hands wide open, love
with the doors banging on their hinges,
the cupboard unlocked, the wind
roaring and whimpering in the rooms
rustling the sheets and snapping the blinds
that thwack like rubber bands
in an open palm.
It hurts to love wide open
stretching the muscles that feel
as if they are made of wet plaster,
then of blunt kni More...
May 08, 2011
Leslie
rated it:
This is the book I turn to when the beginning or ending of a relationship is plaguing me - more often in memory than in reality. Its poems about work and being female are always stirring. This book is definitely one of my favorite poetry books - and I buy many. I haven't enjoyed her fiction,but hasten to add that nonfiction and poetry comprise 99% of my reading interests. Her memoir "Sleeping With Cats" is next on my list.
Jul 26, 2008
Aly
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Piercy has some great moments like
Listening becomes eavesdropping and they
begin to feel my silence like a horse
in the diningroom. Gradually as I sit
my hair mats. Feathers stick up from
it, crow and eagle. My cheeks break
out into painted zigzag designs. My spear
leans against the back of the chair.
They begin to question me, oh, um,
do you live communally? What do
you mean, "open"? Hair breaks through
the back of my ha More...
Listening becomes eavesdropping and they
begin to feel my silence like a horse
in the diningroom. Gradually as I sit
my hair mats. Feathers stick up from
it, crow and eagle. My cheeks break
out into painted zigzag designs. My spear
leans against the back of the chair.
They begin to question me, oh, um,
do you live communally? What do
you mean, "open"? Hair breaks through
the back of my ha More...
Aug 26, 2008
Patti
rated it:
I am not usually a poetry reader but many of the poems in this book stopped me in my tracks. Marge Piercy knows how to get to the core of the matter and fully describes feelings and experiences I have had.
Here is an excerpt from Morning Athletes
"It is not the running I love, thump
thump with my leaden feet that only
infrequently are winged and prancing,
but the light that glints off the cattails
as the wind furrows them, the rum cherries
redd More...
Here is an excerpt from Morning Athletes
"It is not the running I love, thump
thump with my leaden feet that only
infrequently are winged and prancing,
but the light that glints off the cattails
as the wind furrows them, the rum cherries
redd More...
Feb 27, 2009
Lisa
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I bought this book when I was working at a cool bookstore in Rochester, NY (The Village Green). I used to have to restock the shelves, and I thought that this book just looked good. I also believe the moon is always female...
Dec 28, 2008
Hope
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I came across this book at random at a local used book store. From the title, I expected, fluffly, trite, possibly pagan, probably feminist poetry. A confession - I looked at it to make fun of it. Instead, I found myself moved by the first poem I read. I flipped to another random page, sure that was a fluke. The next poem gripped my heart as well. I repeated that twice more before realizing that if I didn't buy the volume, I was going to sit myself down right there and read it in the store
More...
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Jun 12, 2009
Connie
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A lovely book, especially the poem, "Arofa" as it reminds me of my cat, Jude.
Marge Piercy touches on so many aspects of what it means to be human, to be a woman and to experience life's array of emotions.
Marge Piercy touches on so many aspects of what it means to be human, to be a woman and to experience life's array of emotions.
Aug 04, 2011
The first book of poetry that I read by Piercy was life changing. I love her sensibilities, her passion. My favorite in this book, a love poem called "To Have Without Holding."
Jun 18, 2008
Marguerite
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I like the collection generally, but some of the poems in the book struck me as dated. I much preferred the selections in "Hand Games" to "The Lunar Cycle." If that makes me less a feminist, so be it. (Maybe it's just that I'm beyond menopause.) My favorite poetry is verse to which I return over and over. I'll keep this in the bookshelf, but it's not likely I'll return to it anytime soon.
Some memorable snippets:
"Every love has its season, its cultural More...
Some memorable snippets:
"Every love has its season, its cultural More...
Mar 04, 2010
Great book of poetry. She is a feminist but she doesnt exclude men when she writes. I always pick this up from time to time to read a good poem.
Dec 16, 2009
Patrick
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I did not know how much poetry could help me until I read this book. Breaks you open and spreads your guts out on the table, stuffing everything back in by each poem's end. Piercy lives to destroy and create. She's fierce man.
We fall in love with strangers whose faces
radiate a familiar power that reminds us
of something lost before we had it.
The braille of the studious fingers instructs
exactly what we have succumbed to, far too late
to close, to retract th More...
We fall in love with strangers whose faces
radiate a familiar power that reminds us
of something lost before we had it.
The braille of the studious fingers instructs
exactly what we have succumbed to, far too late
to close, to retract th More...
May 18, 2011
SmarterLilac
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My favorite Marge Piercy. Contains the unequaled 'Right to Life.' Any person who has not yet read this poem should consider herself bereft.
Sep 09, 2010
Suzanne
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Still I go to this to pace my way through a moment...or a series of moments!
Oct 21, 2011
Bonnie Jean
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Marge Piercy has strong views on women's issues an life in general. a very personal poetry book about her life and coming to know the moon.
Dec 23, 2009
Faye
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I am just starting to read poetry and so find it difficult to discuss. I enjoyed reading these poems and dutifully read them.
Jul 05, 2008
Donna Rae
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This is presently my fav! her writing touches on things thought but not expressed over and over again with such eloquence. I am not a lyrical minded poet but her poetry has music. I never heard of her but chose her book because of the cover with the cat in the moon and have read 2 more of her books since finding her and have not been disappointed.
Oct 09, 2007
ex.libris
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I have this book in two volumes because I read it so much it cracked down the middle and split in half.
This was one of the poets I read in early high school that really touched me. Her poems were really helpful in sorting certain things out in my teenage mind. I haven't read through it lately, but I still have vivid memories of the poems.
This was one of the poets I read in early high school that really touched me. Her poems were really helpful in sorting certain things out in my teenage mind. I haven't read through it lately, but I still have vivid memories of the poems.
Jan 07, 2008
Megan
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The title poem "The Moon is Always Female" is a feminist classic; sticks mainly to the usual wise woman/crone imagery but is still inventive and evocative. I prefer Piercy's fiction because it usually has a science fiction bent. Her poetry is surprisingly alive, despite the overt feminist political stance.
Jul 31, 2008
Brett
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I have a habit of marking the poems I like with small stickies, by the time I finished this tome the book was riddled with them. It's interesting to read this at the same time as reading Bukoski' The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain: New Poems. A feminist and a chauvinist.
Dec 21, 2011
Rebecca
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I'm someone who sometimes gets pretty stumped about poetry, but I absolutely love Marge Piercy. She's the author of one of my favorite poems -- Barbie Girl. This collection is full of gems too.
Dec 17, 2009
Rachel
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Edgy, engaging poetry--I didn't like everything I read, but sometimes a reader needs to be challenged. What I especially loved were the poems about writing and publishing poetry--just what I needed.
Dec 06, 2010
Philip
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Two of my friends here on Goodreads have shared Piercy's poems, and so I need to get one of her collections for myself. Edited on July 9, 2009 - finally got it! Will report back.
