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Early Ripening: American Women's Poetry Now
A generous collection of early poems by one of America's best known and bestselling poets. "Her poems are rough, direct, hairy, political, tremendously energetic. Visionary, vulnerable, and real".--Margaret Atwood.
- GenresPoetryFeminismNonfiction
280 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1988
About the author
Marge Piercy
111 books946 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 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 26, 2016
Nice collection of a range of Piercy's work. A treat to see some of her unpublished pieces going all the way back to high school!
December 3, 2020
Too complex and a difficult read. I understood what was going on but not really(?). I am not so sure myself. The story is mainly set in a psychiatric hospital. Hence, it is difficult to differentiate delusion from reality.
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A feminist science fiction novel. Connie was a battered woman all around and forcibly committed to a mental asylum. She was also forced to undergo an experiment run by seemingly crazy doctors. At the same time, she kept on receiving visions and visits from a time-traveller, Luciente, who then took her to their world - an alternate future that practices non-hierarchy and a loose version of anarchism. In the end, Connie remained trapped in the hospital, never receiving visits from Luciente again.
.
I was terribly confused throughout. I am sure it is a great story for some but I was not absorbed. The plot is amazing but the writing is hard to follow.
.
A feminist science fiction novel. Connie was a battered woman all around and forcibly committed to a mental asylum. She was also forced to undergo an experiment run by seemingly crazy doctors. At the same time, she kept on receiving visions and visits from a time-traveller, Luciente, who then took her to their world - an alternate future that practices non-hierarchy and a loose version of anarchism. In the end, Connie remained trapped in the hospital, never receiving visits from Luciente again.
.
I was terribly confused throughout. I am sure it is a great story for some but I was not absorbed. The plot is amazing but the writing is hard to follow.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2016
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection of poems, there was variation between different styles and types of poems. A feast of different stimuluses, such as love, politics, race, religion, childhood, nostalgia and women's rights. It also educated me on poets that I had never heard of before. A.true celebration of women's poetry. :)
June 30, 2017
Hopes
with rosy breast plumage still
build nests in my hair. Pain
puckers you yet I see the strength
there, the woman riding the crimson
lion through a field of flowers
and danger.
how have i lived almost twenty-two years without reading a word of marge piercy?? i am still breathless.
with rosy breast plumage still
build nests in my hair. Pain
puckers you yet I see the strength
there, the woman riding the crimson
lion through a field of flowers
and danger.
how have i lived almost twenty-two years without reading a word of marge piercy?? i am still breathless.
May 15, 2021
Beautiful and gritty writing. I didn't like all these poems, but enough to keep the book vs. trading it at the local used bookstore. Very good writing.
June 28, 2026
Nice collection, and my introduction to Piercy. A few really stand out pieces in it but everything is pretty solid. will seek out more of her verse and prose!
May 11, 2009
Piercy is a master of imagery especially through the use of brilliant similes, but sometimes I wanted her to be more straightforward.
My favorite poems from this collection were "Five thousand miles," which is about being far away from the person you love and "August," which reflects on the tense emotions that can arise from not knowing how to move forward with someone. She also includes a few poems in which she examines the dynamics of male/female relationships that I enjoyed.
My favorite poems from this collection were "Five thousand miles," which is about being far away from the person you love and "August," which reflects on the tense emotions that can arise from not knowing how to move forward with someone. She also includes a few poems in which she examines the dynamics of male/female relationships that I enjoyed.
April 11, 2016
I read only the unpublished poem section of this book because I've read the poems from other collections. Again was I blown away by Piercy's tone as it developed in the early years. My favorite poem is the one about cat worship. She slips in a cat here and there in her poems, but this one let them shine fully. Great read!
January 15, 2009
A perfect voice to any leftover teenage angst.
May 14, 2014
Beautiful imagery. Raw, emotive, feminist poetry that is written so wonderfully. This book has a collection of my favorite of Piercy's poems. They are touching and natural.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews