Memories Flow in Our Veins: Forty Years of Women's Writing from Calyx

by Margarita Donnelly (Editor), Marjorie Coffey, Emily Eblow

Feminist icon CALYX Press has dedicated forty years to publishing the work of women writers, amplifying diverse voices, and creating a dynamic and inclusive literary space. Memories Flow in Our Veins commemorates the CALYX legacy and their contribution to the landscape of literature, while exploring the perennial themes of place and politics, aging and caregiving, and discovery and self-reckoning.

Featuring poetry and fiction by some of the most renowned and decorated women writers of the past four decades, Memories Flow In Our Veins is a triumphant showcase of the work published by CALYX Press through the years.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Womens, Feminism, Anthologies

172 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Margarita Donnelly, along with 3 fellow writers, founded Calyx Journal in 1976. Calyx was one of the first feminist journals in the Pacific Northwest and remains committed to publishing women's literature and art. In the past 40 years, Calyx has published over 4000 authors and artists (Calyx). Calyx Journal has a reputation for featuring new authors; "a few who were published first or early in their careers include Julia Alvarez, Ellen Bass, Chitra Divakaruni, Molly Gloss, Linda Hogan, Natalie Goldberg, Barbara Kingsolver, Colleen McElroy, Sharon Olds, Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szymborska (the first English translations in the U.S.A.), and Eleanor Wilner, among others. CALYX Journal was also the first U.S. publisher of color art reproductions of the work of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo"(Calyx).

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memories Flow in Our Veins is a thoughtfully curated anthology featuring the work of skilled poets, memoirists, and fiction writers. Reading about the concept of womanhood can be sometimes harrowing—one often fear being subjected to stories of rape, abuse, and injustice. Though some of the subject matter in Memories was challenging, it was gloriously non-exploitative and often celebratory of some type of triumph. If there was a unifying theme that I noticed, it was the surprising ways in which different women liberate themselves: whether it's by connecting to their religious heritage, joining the military during wartime, becoming a professional wrestler, or trolling their families with store-bought pig's head. Again, this book makes me proud to be a part of Ooligan Press, which published it this spring.

[Maeko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Celebrating the forty-year anniversary of CALYX press, this short anthology of beautiful writing will whisk you away to a land of strength, beauty, love, and transformation. From prose to poetry, each piece of writing is equally unique and enchanting. The images evoked from the pages of this collection—Hawaiian goddesses, memories of a mother, mother-child relationships, places known as “home,” diversity, finding strength through struggle—captures not only what it means to be “woman,” but what it means to be human.

Memories Flow in Our Veins is as beautiful on the outside as its words are on the inside. It is one of those books on the bookshelf that you will return to over and over again.

[Tarrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't really read short form writing or anthologies often. But, this one sung out to me from the shelves at Independent Bookstore Day yesterday and I am so glad it did. Read it.

[Emily Frantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memories Flow In Our Veins is a diverse collection of beautiful and thought-provoking feminist short-form pieces by women. I’m not a big poetry or short story reader, but this book was a really interesting read. I enjoyed how everything was laid out and transitioned beautifully from front to back, even as each piece’s format and author changed. Also, the book itself is absolutely beautiful to look at with the flowery illustrations tying back to the press behind the books collection, CALYX, and to the unfolding and flowing nature of the pieces included in the book.
Some of my favorite pieces were “At the Party” by Ursula K. Le Guin, “Strong Girls” by Donna Miscolta, “Burning Bride” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, “The Rash” by Sue Pace, “Light Skin” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Decedent was Initially Viewed Unclothed” by Marianne Villanueva, and “Cabeza” by Monique De Varennes. Each was so unique but completely engrossing.
If you like deeply compelling pieces discussing the lives of women from diverse female voices from the last forty years, you will love Memories Flow in Our Veins.

[Hanna Ziegler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up Memories as a way to step outside what I've been reading lately, and I have to say, I am SO glad I did. Powerful from start to finish, Memories collects intensely personal moments in the lives of women from various walks of life. I was captured and held hostage for several riveting hours by the experiences of these women. They charmed me with their writing and made me alternately happy and sad with their stories of triumph and hardship. This book is a lot of things: personal, political, emotional, analytical, passionate. I found threads of familiarity and paths to new understanding within these pages, and I am grateful to have found this little gem of a book.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memories Flow In Our Veins is a diverse collection of women’s writing from Calyx, a literary journal that’s been featuring women’s voices from all over the world for over forty years.

One of the things I love most about this book, aside from the gorgeous cover and matte finish that feels amazing in your hands, is the balance between poetry and prose throughout the book. It provides a seamless transition between short and long pieces that encourages you to keep reading. You’ll read a short story or two, and then come to some beautiful poetry to read slowly and digest before diving into the next story. Some of my favorites were The Weight of Me, where wrestling twin sisters discover their power when they realize they can control the outcome of their matches; The Rash, a daughter who sees another side of her father after her parents divorce; and Pighead, a woman who taunts her family with a dead pig head she keeps in the fridge and refuses to throw out.

This is a collection of personal and real stories from Seattle to Nigeria that you’ll want to read again and again. They’re heartbreaking and compelling, and I felt like a woman reading them, like I was connected to the ultimate sisterhood of women everywhere.

[Leigh Kaisen]

This gorgeous collection of diverse female narratives offers a rich and intimate portrait of a woman’s history. Commemorating the longstanding contributions of CALYX Press, who has dedicated forty years to publishing and championing women writers, Memories Flow in Our Veins speaks to the cultural, generational, and personal discoveries of womanhood. Representing a variety of voices, these pieces explore place and politics, aging and caregiving, memory and self-reckoning. The images and notions lifted from these pages—the moon as a curved woman, gravity reversing, the knowledge of love carried in bones, holding the hand of the dying, discovering different kinds of freedom, mothers telling stories, daughters making history, sisters fighting for themselves—each extends a vibrant glimpse into the dynamic, resounding history (“her-story”) of women.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was a lot of hype surrounding this collection and it definitely lived up to it. A collection of strong female writers. I didn't want to put it down. There was one story in particular that stood out to me and has stayed with me since I read it. Strong Girls is about overweight twins who are on the wrestling team and they become pit against each other, but then turn it back to the people who pit them against one another. In books or collections it's hard to find characters that have the same or similar body type as I do and having this story be included meant a lot to me. I laughed during it, but I also felt a kinship with the twins. Buy and read this book, you wont be disappointed.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this collection. The themes, especially feminism, are presented so powerfully and I was inspired while reading. I also enjoyed reading pieces from so many amazing authors. I highly recommend this book!

[Jasmine Gower · Rating 3 out of 5]

Memories Flow in Our Veins is a collection of feminist poems and short stories curated from CALYX Press publications over the course of the past several decades. The pieces in Memories cover a broad range of feminism-related topics, such a bodies, sexuality, labor, and religion.

As is often the case with anthologies, I have a mixed response to the collection as a whole due to some pieces resonating well with me and others far less so. For the pieces that didn't work for me in this collection, there was a specific underlying reason common throughout them, so I will start by addressing the common issue I encountered.

Because the collection ranges back as far as the mid-1970s, a number of older pieces carry a very definite second wave mindset to them, and that comes along with all the problems one might expect. Ranging from laughably pretentious and corny metaphors about flowers and moons to gross objectification of women's bodies to outright violent gender essentialism, many if not most of the older pieces in this anthology present a narrative of "universal womanhood" that implicitly or explicitly is only permitted to straight, cisgender, abled women. As someone whose falls into none of those categories, I found these pieces to be not only not empowering, but actively disempowering. The poems and stories with this second wave slant read at best as juvenile with their cheesy euphemisms about vulvas and pregnancy and at worst a vicious espousal of anti-transgender rhetoric, and after a while I found myself just skipping anything dated prior to 1985 to avoid these pieces. While I understand that these works are largely products of their time, I feel there's not much excuse for an anthology published in 2016 to include them without any caveats or contextualization regarding the regressive ideologies about womanhood and gender essentialism baked into them.

As for the more modern works, I found these overall to be much less alienating, and several of these pieces were even quite stunning. There was a nice variety of works by women of color and Jewish women, and this provided much needed perspective outside of the purview of white feminism. These pieces tended to overall frame womanhood as a personal experience rather than something that can be universally defined, and it made the pain, joy, and power expressed in these pieces far more compelling than the second wave pieces mentioned above. I was particularly fond of "Nā Wāhine Noa" by Haunani-Kay Trask and "You Know the Killing Fields" by Willa Schneberg, which both speak to the intersecting realms of womanhood and culture, and the sense of pain and identity that can exist within that space.

There are a number of truly excellent pieces in this collection, but the second wave-ism of many of the works did detract quite a bit from my enjoyment of the book overall. As I said, many of the individual works in this collection are excellent on their own, but taken a whole, the worser pieces in this collection left me discouraged even as I moved on to more powerful ones, leaving me overall lukewarm about the collection.

[Erin Bass · Rating 5 out of 5]

In general, I really enjoy reading anthologies, poetry, memoirs, and books with feminist themes. Obviously, Memories Flow in Our Veins is right up my alley. So, of course, I had high expectations when I began reading it. I think those expectations were beyond met. The pieces curated here are moving, raw, and ring timelessly true to the experiences of women. Sometimes I become bored or grow detached when reading things from the past. This collection is made up of forty years worth of women’s writing, so, going into the book, I did recognize this may be an issue for me. However, so many of these experiences are universal and timeless— sex, childbirth, evolution of family— that the date they were written don’t really matter at all. Even when the topics were uncomfortable, and they certainly were at times, the absolute beauty of the writing makes you glad to push through until the end. Whether done in prose or in poetry, the messages were clear and strong.

[Jennifer Ladwig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must admit, I was first drawn to this book because of the cover, I have been pretty attracted to botanical themes these days. However, when I selected this book and read the description, I knew I had to have it. CALYX has published some amazing work, and the pieces featured in this book absolutely blew me away. I have long been a feminist, I love to see female voices represented and this book does so in a really beautiful and thoughtful way. Organized into four sections---The Space We Occupy; Cheifly Politics, Lowly Gods; The Unlevel Table; and I Believe I am Beginning--take the reader through the female experience, from body shaming and abuse to struggles with a sense of place and purpose. Through both poetry and prose, writers like Ursula K. Le Guin, Barbara Kingsolver, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie take us on a journey to hell and back, forcing us to face both the ugly and beautiful sides of humanity through women's eyes.

[Karina Agbisit · Rating 4 out of 5]

With its mix of poetry and short stories, this anthology was a great read for someone who is always on the go. Even when I only had time to read a poem or two or a single story, I was struck by the emotion and insight in these writings. The piece "The Decedent Is Initially Viewed Unclothed" by Marianne Villanueva has lingered in my mind long since I finished reading it, along with "Burning Bride" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and "Magnificat" by Kristen Sundberg Lunstrum.

Memories Flow in Our Veins is divided into four thematic sections, and my personal favorite was The Unlevel Table, which focuses on women's work. In the writings of this section, I saw not only some of my experiences but the experiences of so many women in my life—mothers, grandmothers, aunts, friends, and more.

Whether you are looking for a weekend read or something you can immerse yourself in during the few free moments in your hectic day, I highly recommend this anthology.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

CALYX is a literary journal that “exists to nurture women’s creativity by publishing fine literature and art by women”. Memories Flow in Our Veins is a collection of work by a long list of incredible authors, from the past forty years.

I initially gravitated towards this book because I saw Ursula K. Le Guin contributed work and I have always been a fan of her writing style. I’m new to reading poetry and prose and I wanted something I could connect to, but not get overwhelmed by, and I’m so happy I reached for this. There are a few pieces that stood out to me that I keep coming back to, my favorite being - Why a Woman Can’t Be Pope by Sandra Kohler. With just one stanza, Kohler is able to portray the experience of being a women in an overly sexualized world. The collection of stories are extremely diverse and every woman can find solace with one of these authors. I really enjoyed reading this and will probably refer back to it in the future.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Particularly in today's politically-fraught America, Memories is a true gem and absolutely required reading. This anthology is well-written, truly representational, and, quite frankly, beautiful. It is easy to see how the collection has won multiple awards, as it seamlessly melds together creative thinking with strong narratives, presenting to the world a powerful look into what it means to be a woman, from every angle. Calyx is a phenomenal press that is doing important work. Memories is the culmination of forty years of this work, in a slim volume that will leave the reader breathless. In a time where women's roles are threatened, it is important now more than ever to support presses like Calyx and read books like this, to remember the importance of representation, identity, and freedom of creative expression.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a big poetry fan; I never really read any outside of classes. But this book, which has a mix of both short stories, essays, and poetry, was a breath of fresh air. It offered me a chance not only to hear a wide variety of stories from lots of different women, but it also gave me a chance to follow along with their stories through different avenues of writing.

I love a good "best of" collection, and this is full of them. There are stories that are bold and in your face, ones that you'll never forget. And then there are subtle ones that slip in and out of your memory. All of them made me appreciative of the women in my life, all the people that support and challenge them, and my own journey.

Highly recommend. This would definitely make a good book to give as a gift then chat about over a few glasses of wine.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memories Flow in Our Veins is a powerhouse of literature by women. I had not expected to find such compelling pieces between its covers. (Speaking of, it’s a gorgeous, arresting book with gorgeous illustrations inside.) It’s hard to overstate the sheer emotional power of each piece in Memories. My favorite pieces are “The Crone I Will Become,” “Burning Bride,” “Light Skin,” and “The Rash.” Each poem, essay, and story demanded to be read and contemplated. In the acknowledgments, CALYX director Alicia Bublitz states that Memories is not a “best of” anthology. If that’s true—if all of CALYX’s issues read like this book does—then I’ve been missing out. This anthology made me a lifetime CALYX fan, and I hope to get my hands on an issue or three in the coming year.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection has something for everyone. Some names (like Barbara Kingsolver and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) jumped off the page at me, while others were waiting for me to discover them. Relationships, love, loss, trauma, joy… the poems, stories, and essays of Memories find myriad ways into the experience of womanhood within contexts of family, politics, and identity. It's an anthology for people who don't read anthologies, and a feminist bible for those who resist such dictates. Are you in search of inspiration? Of a manifesto? Memories is a beautiful collage that turns the timeless story of constant striving toward self-determination into a work of art.

[Nora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked some of these pieces a lot and i felt bored and annoyed by some too. I understand that many of these were written in the second and third waves of feminism so there's an inordinate hyperfixation on vaginas. The understanding of how expansive womanhood is deeply shallow in the diversity of the selections. If not all, then the majority by a landslide are written by cisgender women about cisgender women, often using anatomy as the only reference of what it means to be a woman. Also lacking were stories from more baited writers. Most were stories about heterosexual identity and there was some but not great non-white or BIPOC representation.

[Sydney Kiest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology gives an empowering voice to female writers. I have grown to love both short fiction and poetry over the past couple of years, as it is easy to fit into my fast-paced life where I am only able to read in spurts. This collection of feminist writing has brought beauty, inspiration, truth, and insight to the female experience. This book will bring any lover of feminist writing with small moments of meditative reading into their busy lives. While this collection covers 40 years of writing, most of the book still feels fresh and memorable. I highly recommend.

[Rachel H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Life is a dance, says the woman of too many days." - Mary Cuffe Perez

CALYX is a journal published in Corvallis, Oregon that has printed literature by women since 1976. Memories Flow in Our Veins is a stunning collection of pieces published in CALYX over the last four decades. The collection opens with a poem by Ursula Le Guin and features poems, stories, and essays by Barbara Kingsolver, Mary Cuffe Perez, Sandra Kohler, and many more. Each piece feels more relevant now than ever. This is a beautiful book, well worth the read.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I am slowly getting in to reading more poetry so I am still figuring out what I like and don't like. This collection appealed to me because of its historical significance and the feminist nature of the poetry. These are things that I really love so I went into the read expecting to connect with the pieces and I was not disappointed. It was interesting to see these pieces collected together in one work, especially because they span decades and you can see the subtle differences of each generation reflected in them. My favorite piece was "Recalculating" by Jennifer Burd.

[Brittney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memories Flow in Our Veins is an absolutely beautiful collection of short stories and poetry. I was especially invested in the poetry often finding myself pulling out single lines of intrigue or re-reading sections just to hear the words again. Anyone looking to support women writers should read this. I love that there is a space like this purposely being carved out for women and I can only hope that it becomes more and more inclusive in the future.

[Vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful collection of short stories and poetry that really pull emotion from you as you read. The pages draw you in—you wonder where these women are now, what they were feeling when they wrote these things. The book takes you to a place of self reflection. It's the perfect book to read on a long afternoon in a coffee shop, or curled up by your window on a rainy day. Intricately written and sometimes incredibly sad, this book is definitely worth the read.

[Tristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best anthologies I have ever read. Every story is rich and diverse and immersive. The flow of the layout is perfect. I felt the forty years of deep effort, commitment, and care that has gone into this anthology. What a gift.

[T. J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a straight, white man. I’ve never felt oppressed and I don’t expect to, so I figure the least I can do is be a feminist. Still, I suspect that there are little bits (maybe large chunks) of sexism hidden within me, influenced by the culture I grew up in and participate in. I’m always trying to identify and destroy pieces of vestigial sexism whenever I can, which is one reason I picked up Memories Flow in Our Veins.

Memories is an anthology of poems and short stories that previously appeared in the pages of CALYX, a literary journal that has nurtured women writers for more than forty years. As you might guess, all the pieces that appear in Memories are by women--some of whom are very famous, like Ursula K. LeGuin and Barbara Kingsolver.

Nearly every page of this anthology got me thinking about issues of gender and race that I might not have thought about otherwise. For example, a story about two young overweight twins being forced to wrestle each other got me thinking about how women in our culture don’t always feel like their bodies are their own. Another story presents how it feels to grow up being told that your dark skin is not as desirable as lighter skin--by your own mother, no less.

I enjoyed seeing pieces from authors I already knew I liked--such as those mentioned above and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie--and I also liked discovering new writers who I’m sure I’ll encounter again. I was particularly struck by April Selley’s “Mrs. Santa Decides to Move to Florida,” a hilarious and beautiful poem that imagines a Mrs. Claus with agency. I enjoyed Kristin Kearns’ “The Weight of Me,” a Benjamin-Button-esque story in which the narrator’s boyfriend ages in reverse and becomes more needy, highlighting the expectation for women to play mother to more than just their children.

This book helped me see the perspectives of women and people of color a little more clearly, and I believe I’m a slightly smarter, more thoughtful person after reading it. Of course, this book probably wasn’t written to make white guys better people (It’s not all about me, I have to remember that!). I suspect lots of women devoted to intersectional feminism will enjoy having their own thoughts and experiences presented in such moving, artful ways.

[Gloria Mulvihill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must begin this review with my thoughts about the cover of this book, and the overall design. Yes, you should not pick up a book based solely on how it looks, but we all do it. Memories lends itself very well to this aspect of human nature—it’s an absolutely gorgeous book. From the richness of the color, to the fantastical and slightly dark and creepy flowers, to the minute details in the running footers on the bottoms of the pages, and finally to the careful details on the placement of the flowers around the main red frame on the front, this book is truly beautiful to look at.

Moving along…

Memories drew me in and held me captive. I loved the balance of poetry to short story, as well as the organization of the writing into their sections. This is a collection that delves into the social issues and happenings that occur in our lives every single day. Thematic topics such as feminism (and all the connotations and denotations thereof), race, gender, ethnicity, body image, self-esteem, self-love, politics, power struggles, and much more are written about in powerful, stunning language. A few of my personal favorites are “Cabeza” by Monique De Varennes, “Relics” by Barbara Garden Baldwin, “Killing Color” by Charlotte Watson Sherman, and “Mrs. Santa Decides to Move to Florida” by April Selley.

You’ll truly get something new from this collection every time you pick it up. I highly recommend this book.

[Alison McCarter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memories Flow in Our Veins is an intense, thoughtful collection of stories about the female experience. This book offers a glimpse inside the life of a woman—the insecurities she feels with her body and the injustices she faces but also the amazing things she accomplishes and her discovery of her place in the world.

Reading this book gave me both a sense of kinship for the common experiences women share and a sense of respect for the women who face struggles I have never known. Being from a rural, conservative town, I’ve seen the stigma and shame placed on women who express their sexuality, as happens to the narrator in “Magnificat” by Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum. On the other hand, I have never known the cultural pressures of beauty and marriage in the ways that are expressed in “My Mother Combs My Hair” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni; however, I know this is something many women around the world are subjected to in varying degrees. Just these two pieces alone are true representations of the unity and diversity of women, but many more examples can be found throughout this beautiful collection.

Through stories and poems, Memories gives the reader an accurate picture of how we as women move through our world. Both women and those seeking to understand the woman’s experience would benefit from reading this book.

[Elle Klock · Rating 4 out of 5]

MEMORIES FLOW IN OUR VEINS harnesses the commanding voices and talents of multiple female identified writers to create an anthology that is both provocative and engaging. With poetry, short fiction, and prose, MEMORIES is a collection of work from the iconic press, CALYX, that promotes and amplifies feminist voices. This book resonates with honesty, clarity, and earnest memories from women across various cultures and generations as they navigate identity, image, and personhood in their bodies. With names like Barbara Kingsolver and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, MEMORIES is beautifully crafted to represent women and writers, motherhood and sisterhood, and the barriers we work to break out of.
I read this book after finishing Sheila Heti's MOTHERHOOD and found it to be the perfect companion book to the conversation that Heti sparks of womanhood linked to identity and purpose in connection with the body. There are some gems hidden inside MEMORIES, like "The Weight of Me" by Kristin Kearns, which explores the devolution of a woman's boyfriend after their decision to marry. This collection hit home with me, it was like having a conversation with my girlfriends about the topics that have been weighing on me recently through the lens of poetry and short story.

[Ari Mathae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book. It's refreshing to read something from such diverse female perspectives across decades.

This book has some incredible pieces by renowned authors such as Ursula Le Guin and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. These pieces are brilliant individually, and collectively give a dynamic glimpse into the ways we define womanhood and the femme perspective throughout our lives and cultures.

The contents are largely divided into sections: The Space We Occupy; Chiefly Politics, Lowly Gods; The Unlevel Table; and I Believe I Am Beginning. The Space We Occupy spoke to me so deeply. I find it interesting to claim space in which to talk about our bodies, experiences, and desires, as women are often taught that no one wants to hear about this. There's so much power in forming this dialogue.

Each piece has its own voice and pacing, and I found myself wanting more of certain authors. A strength in this publication is the organization of the pieces, including a range of poetry and fiction. It was really a delight to read this.