Mars and Her Children: Poems [Paperback]

Marge Piercy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 1992

A major new collection of poems about women's lives and the closing circle of nature, from a bestselling poet. These poems celebrate the beauties of nature and the eternal cycle of love, death and birth that is being interrupted by the assault on the environment.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Piercy's ( Available Light ) is a poetry of the senses, and often that means sensual overload for readers, who may feel after reading a few of these poems that they have eaten too many rich desserts. A poem entitled "When too much is barely enough" is exemplary of Piercy's style: "The scent of butter and cream honeysuckle / is ladled like sambuca straight into my brain . . . ." The poem is about nothing more than a beautiful day, yet Piercy's overzealous metaphor-making gives it a queasy, psychedelic tinge. To be fair, other poems are more imagistically restrained in this uneven collection. In "The pain came back like something sharp in my eye" the speaker recounts the neurotic incidents of an old lover who has killed himself. The poet proclaims, "You feared love with an energy better spent / fearing death, to whom you gave yourself wholly / at last, supine to that sour kiss." Offering oneself up to life's (particularly love's) sensual pleasures is what we must do for our bodies while we're still alive, the poet says, because one day we will succumb to diseases like cancer and AIDS, and at least we will have "sucked the last morsel of pleasure onto our tongue /since we're charged anyhow for living."
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

The 31st Of March
Amidah: On Our Feet We Speak To You
Anxiety Wins A Round
Apple Sauce For Eve
The Ark Of Consequence
At The New Moon: Rosh Hodesh
Bell Song
Bite Into The Onion
Blizzard Comes
Blood Lake
The Book Of Ruth And Naomi
Cast Skins
The Cat's Song
Core Memory
Cousin, Cousine
Detroit Means Strait
Detroit, Summer Camp
The Diminishing Addition
Do Not Erect The Wall Before Yourselves
Domestic Danger
Dream Of White And Red Poppies
Dreaming The Frog's Sleep
The Ex In The Supermarket
Feeling Quite Temporary
The Foot Gnawed Off
For Each Age, Its Amulet
For Mars And Her Children Returning In March
For She Is A Tree Of Life
Fox Grapes
Frog Song
A Garden Of Words
Getting It Back
The Heart's Clock
Heel Should Not Be An Insult
Hot, Hotter
How The Full Moon Wakes You
The Hunger Moon
I Have Always Been Poor At Flirting
Imaging
In June All Things Wake Fully
It Ain't Heavy, It's My Purse
It Arrives Suddenly And Carries Us Off As Usual
Like Little Firecrackers In The Brain
A Line Of Dancers Through Time
Little Pischna Revisited
A Newly Sharpened Wind
Of The Patience Called Forth By Transition
Old Shoes
The Pain Came Back Like Something Sharp In My Eye
Peeled After Flu
Persimmon Pudding
The Possession
Practicing With The Windows Open
The Price Of The Body
Report Of The Fourteenth Subcommittee On Convening
Returning To The Cemetery In The Old Prague Ghetto
Runt Vigor
The Seduction Of Anticipated Pain
Sexual Selection Among Birds
Shabbat Moment
Shad Blow
Soft Coal Country
Softly During The Night
Subtle Commands Of The Earth
The Task Never Completed
Teaching Experience
Thinking Of Homer At Twilight
Three A.m. Feeding
Toward A Good Rooting Medium
Toward A Sudden Silence
True Romance
The Truth According To Ludd
Underwater Breathing
Waking With My Ears Ringing
We Speak Of Seeing The Heron, As If There Were Only One
Wet
The Whale We Are
What Crosses Over
When I Was Caddy
When Too Much Is Barely Enough
Why I Bought The Stupid Palm Tree Dish
The Wind Changes Around
Woman In The Bushes
Yearning To Repossess The Body
Yellow, Red, Blue
Your Eyes Recall Old Fantasies
Your Father's Fourth Heart Attack
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (April 7, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679738770
• ISBN-13: 978-0679738770
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,218,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this is a book to be treasured, May 14, 2000

By 

Rona (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mars and Her Children: Poems (Paperback)

I bought this book on a whim, and nothing could have been better for me! The poems in here are wonderful, I read them over and over again and always find new meanings. Marge Piercey is a talented woman, and I highly reccomend this book to anyone who loves intelligent, witty and beautiful prose.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, August 27, 2000

By 

Nanci "Book Dragon" (Tri-Cities, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mars and Her Children: Poems (Paperback)

The perfect book of poetry for any mood. Although Piercy is a feminist, her poems are balanced, thoughtful and compassionate--also passionate. If you want to give yourself a gift, make it this one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Piercy knocks me over, April 27, 2000

By 

Joan Mazza "Author, speaker, poet" (Mineral, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mars and Her Children: Poems (Paperback)

Piercy writes poetry that will touch all of your emotions. Beprepared to get angry, laugh out loud, and maybe cry. Writing aboutevery aspect of life, we learn about her love of nature, writing, herintimates, and her cats. The only thing better than Piercy's collections of poetry is hearing her read her work aloud. This collection is a gift to her readers.