LETTERS TO THE WORLD: Poems from the Wom-po Listserv [Paperback]

Moira Richards (Editor), Rosemary Starace (Editor), Lesley Wheeler (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Red Hen Press; 1 edition (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597090999
• ISBN-13: 978-1597090995
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,484,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lesley Wheeler is a poet and scholar who teaches at Washington and Lee University. She has received grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Scholar Program, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, and other sources, and her poetry appears in many journals, including Slate, Poetry, and Prairie Schooner. She lives in Lexington, Virginia with her spouse, writer Chris Gavaler, and their two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A huge range, April 3, 2008

By 

K. Roberts "Editor, Beltway Poetry Journal" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: LETTERS TO THE WORLD: Poems from the Wom-po Listserv (Paperback)

This fine anthology spans a huge range, as you might expect with a collection created in such a democratic manner. Sometimes range dilutes a collection, but here it works to the book's advantage, creating surprise as the poems spark against one another. Short essays by members of the list serve work like punctuation throughout, creating breathing room for the poems as well as commentary.

And there are so many delights! There's quite a good deal of finely-wrought verse in traditional forms, highlights of which include of the rhymed quatrains of Rachel Dacus's "Femme au chapeau" and Jilly Dybka's "Lost Things," the sonnets of Marilyn Taylor and Christine Whittemore, and the grace of Ellen Goldstein's "Meadowbrook Sapphics," Ruth Foley's "Triolet for Eric," and Annie Finch's "Letter for Emily Dickinson."

Subjects of cancer and illness were sensitively handled by Jean Anaporte-Easton in "poem for the new year," Ann Neuser Lederer's "The Undifferentiated," and Susan Meyers's "Awaiting My Brother's Pathology Report..." These poems moved me deeply. I also loved Penelope Scambly Schott's meditation on aging, "April, Again."

Kimberly L. Becker's close observation in "The Fallen Apples," Catherine Daly's smart take on women's lingerie in "Of Hollywood," Annie Deppe's repeating film clip of "The Throat Singers," Kate Greenstreet's meditation on cows in "Lives of the Saints" were all mesmerizing. I loved the many tributes to other writers and artists, including David Graham's "Long Overdue Note...," Yerra Sugarman's "To Miklos Radnoti," and Braden Welborn's "Paradise Garden."

I was interested in how often Biblical or mythological themes kept appearing. Favorites among those include Kate Bernadette Benedict's "Sheela-na-gig," Kathleen Flenniken's "It's Not You, It's Me," Cynthia Roth's "The Sound of Love Failing," and Katha Pollit's "The Expulsion."

And I don't want to omit praise for poems by Molly Peacock, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Barbara Crooker, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, or the incredible poems transforming trauma into art by Wendy Taylor Carlisle and Ana Doina. All in all, this is a remarkable anthology.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A feast, March 26, 2008

By 

A_Certain_Attitude "oldprofessorbooks" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LETTERS TO THE WORLD: Poems from the Wom-po Listserv (Paperback)

One reader described reading this collection of 259 poems from 259 poets as (forgive us Forest Gump) like "dipping into a delicious box of chocolates." The authors live in 19 countries on 5 continents and the reality of this handsome book shows what positive good the Internet can bring. All these poets who met on a LISTSERV (Wom-po) have in common is an interest in poetry written by women.

Each day I open the book to where it falls and I read. Today my favorite is David Graham's wryly honest "Long Overdue Note to My College Professor Who Broke Down and Cried One Morning in 1974 While Teaching Yeats." But I think tomorrow it will be Ann Fisher-Wirth's "Blue Window" which wonders "will I have told the world/how I love this life I am forced to lose?" The coolest thing about this collection is that the poets selected the poem that would represent them--All the editors (heroes all) did was sort, stack, typeset, and organize--what a huge task (can you imagine organizing 267 poets?). The collection is a delight.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars historically unequalled anthology, exceptional....., July 23, 2008

By 

Laurel Johnson (Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: LETTERS TO THE WORLD: Poems from the Wom-po Listserv (Paperback)

Several years ago I reviewed the collected poetry of Christina Pacosz. Her beautiful words stunned me to silence and I've been following her published poetry online ever since. Like many female poets from around the world, Pacosz is a member of the Wom-Po Listserv -- an internet presence founded by Annie Finch and recognized internationally for its excellence. Wom-Po's goal as a website and the purpose of this anthology is to "give women poets and their poetry the recognition they deserve." To date, Wom-Po spin offs include listservs, workshops, collaborations, translations, and networking opportunities unavailable to female poets of earlier generations.

The 259 contributing poets from 19 countries on 5 continents represented in this anthology combined their considerable gifts, talents, philosophies, and rich cultural heritages into an amazing blend of poetry and essays. Styles vary from quatrain, sonnet, formalist, and triolet to tanka, haiku, free verse, ekphrasis, and experimental.

This is an exceptional anthology, one to be savored slowly by poetry lovers everywhere. With a universal wisdom, tenderness and grace, these poets transcend the violence we see every day in the world around us. They are the Emily Dickinsons of their time, sending their messages to the world. To quote the Dickinson poem:

This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me.....

In this age of wars and cultural divisions, it's time the world listens and writes back in kind. That's what the Wom-Po listserv poets hope to accomplish with this anthology. Highly recommended.