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A Girl Goes Into the Woods
Poetry. In her biggest, most varied selection of poems, A GIRL GOES INTO THE WOODS, Lyn Lifshin's intimate, intense, startling poems range from the adolescent experiences any young (or not so young) woman can identify with, to the roller coaster ride of agony to ecstasy of relationships. In her unique and magical way she explores the complicated, mysterious, ambivalent relationship between mothers and daughters, that constantly changing braid of pain and joy, of control and rebellion and then the reverse, as the daughter becomes the mother and the deaths of stages of the relationship continue. The book takes us into the immigrant experience, the ravages of Auschwitz, to Hiroshima, Vietnam, Iraq and September 11 as well as natural disasters like Katrina, the 2005 Indonesia tsunami, the Japanese tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. She lets us into the world of mad girls, Madonnas, dancers and shares secrets of poets from Robert Frost, who praised her early poems, to Dylan Thomas and Garcia Lorca. Lifshin gives us moments in Paris, Quebec, the Caribbean and Costa Rico and plunges us into the beauty of Southwestern ruins, quiet New England snowscapes, Midwestern roads with a radio playing and special moments with horses and cats, summer lakes and the firefly filled nights in the town in which she grew up.
400 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2013
About the author
Lyn Lifshin
106 books9 followersLyn Diane Lifshin (1942) is an American poet and teacher.
Born in Barre, VT, she was raised in Middlebury, VT. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Syracuse University and a master's degree in English from the University of Vermont (writing a thesis on Dylan Thomas). She also studied at Brandeis University, the Bread Loaf School of English and attended the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference.
Lifshin moved to Schenectady, NY in the 1970s with her then husband who worked for General Electric. She enrolled in a doctoral program in English at SUNY Albany, and began submitting her work for publication. She quickly began appearing in a variety of literary magazines. When she left SUNY, she began teaching creative writing workshops at various public venues such as libraries as well as at her home in Niskayuna, NY. Eventually, she began earning a living primarily from workshops, readings, and visiting faculty positions.
Lifshin has been called "The Queen of the Lit Mags" and "The Queen of Modern Romance Poetry". Over 120 books and chapbooks of her work have been published. She has also edited 4 anthologies (appearing in innumerable others) and was the subject of the award winning documentary film, Not Made of Glass. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and cultural publications, including The American Scholar, Christian Science Monitor, Ploughshares, nthWORD, Blue Lake Review, Dunes Review, and Rolling Stone Magazine.
Bibliographers and literary critics would be hard-pressed to find a literary journal that has not published at least one Lifshin poem at one time or another. To date, however, there is no comprehensive bibliography of her publications and unpublished manuscripts.
She currently divides her time between a home in Niskayuna, NY and a residence in Virginia.
(from Wikipedia)
Born in Barre, VT, she was raised in Middlebury, VT. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Syracuse University and a master's degree in English from the University of Vermont (writing a thesis on Dylan Thomas). She also studied at Brandeis University, the Bread Loaf School of English and attended the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference.
Lifshin moved to Schenectady, NY in the 1970s with her then husband who worked for General Electric. She enrolled in a doctoral program in English at SUNY Albany, and began submitting her work for publication. She quickly began appearing in a variety of literary magazines. When she left SUNY, she began teaching creative writing workshops at various public venues such as libraries as well as at her home in Niskayuna, NY. Eventually, she began earning a living primarily from workshops, readings, and visiting faculty positions.
Lifshin has been called "The Queen of the Lit Mags" and "The Queen of Modern Romance Poetry". Over 120 books and chapbooks of her work have been published. She has also edited 4 anthologies (appearing in innumerable others) and was the subject of the award winning documentary film, Not Made of Glass. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and cultural publications, including The American Scholar, Christian Science Monitor, Ploughshares, nthWORD, Blue Lake Review, Dunes Review, and Rolling Stone Magazine.
Bibliographers and literary critics would be hard-pressed to find a literary journal that has not published at least one Lifshin poem at one time or another. To date, however, there is no comprehensive bibliography of her publications and unpublished manuscripts.
She currently divides her time between a home in Niskayuna, NY and a residence in Virginia.
(from Wikipedia)
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December 15, 2020
Lifshin is a phenomena! So prolific and powerful. LOVE!
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March 6, 2014Hi, Everyone! Please check out my latest interview with American poet Lyn Lifshin as we discuss her latest collection A Girl Goes Into The Woods (NYQ Books, 2013). Read the interview and 3 poems from her book now on my TTQ Blog. http://thetorontoquarterly.blogspot.c...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews