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Julie G's Reviews > The Moon Is Always Female: Poems
The Moon Is Always Female: Poems
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Julie G's review
bookshelves: 80s-forever-more-1980s-titles, big-hair-the-80s-project, wax-poetic, schlemiel-schlimazel, in-goddess-we-trust, michigan
Jun 06, 2023
bookshelves: 80s-forever-more-1980s-titles, big-hair-the-80s-project, wax-poetic, schlemiel-schlimazel, in-goddess-we-trust, michigan
I wonder why I wasn't over the moon about THE MOON IS ALWAYS FEMALE?
Marge Piercy, who is still among us, at age 87, is a perfectly capable writer, and her poetry is perfectly sound. . . yet I found myself taking long breaks after I'd read just one, and I had to almost prod myself to get back into the collection. I can typically read a slim book of poetry like this within an hour, and this one took me weeks.
I had a similar experience here that I've had before with Nikki Giovanni's work. . . both poets seem a little too keen on political activism in their work for my own personal taste. I'm totally in awe of people who have devoted their lives to political activism, but, unfortunately, it doesn't align with the way I experience poetry.
I'm still giving it 4 stars for merit and technical skill, and I'll leave you with my favorite of hers:
Talent is what they say
you have after the novel
is published and favorably
reviewed. Beforehand what
you have is a tedious
delusion, a hobby like knitting.
Work is what you have done
after the play is produced
and the audience claps.
Before that friends keep asking
when you are planning to go
out and get a job.
Genius is what they know you
had after the third volume
of remarkable poems. Earlier
they accuse you of withdrawing,
ask why you don’t have a baby,
call you a bum.
The reason people want M.F.A.’s,
take workshops with fancy names
when all you can really
learn is a few techniques,
typing instructions and some-
body else’s mannerisms
is that every artist lacks
a license to hang on the wall
like your optician, your vet
proving you may be a clumsy sadist
whose fillings fall into the stew
but you’re certified a dentist.
The real writer is one
who really writes. Talent
is an invention like phlogiston
after the fact of fire.
Work is its own cure. You have to
like it better than being loved.
Marge Piercy, who is still among us, at age 87, is a perfectly capable writer, and her poetry is perfectly sound. . . yet I found myself taking long breaks after I'd read just one, and I had to almost prod myself to get back into the collection. I can typically read a slim book of poetry like this within an hour, and this one took me weeks.
I had a similar experience here that I've had before with Nikki Giovanni's work. . . both poets seem a little too keen on political activism in their work for my own personal taste. I'm totally in awe of people who have devoted their lives to political activism, but, unfortunately, it doesn't align with the way I experience poetry.
I'm still giving it 4 stars for merit and technical skill, and I'll leave you with my favorite of hers:
Talent is what they say
you have after the novel
is published and favorably
reviewed. Beforehand what
you have is a tedious
delusion, a hobby like knitting.
Work is what you have done
after the play is produced
and the audience claps.
Before that friends keep asking
when you are planning to go
out and get a job.
Genius is what they know you
had after the third volume
of remarkable poems. Earlier
they accuse you of withdrawing,
ask why you don’t have a baby,
call you a bum.
The reason people want M.F.A.’s,
take workshops with fancy names
when all you can really
learn is a few techniques,
typing instructions and some-
body else’s mannerisms
is that every artist lacks
a license to hang on the wall
like your optician, your vet
proving you may be a clumsy sadist
whose fillings fall into the stew
but you’re certified a dentist.
The real writer is one
who really writes. Talent
is an invention like phlogiston
after the fact of fire.
Work is its own cure. You have to
like it better than being loved.
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Reading Progress
March 16, 2023
–
Started Reading
March 16, 2023
– Shelved
March 16, 2023
– Shelved as:
80s-forever-more-1980s-titles
March 16, 2023
– Shelved as:
big-hair-the-80s-project
March 16, 2023
– Shelved as:
wax-poetic
March 16, 2023
– Shelved as:
schlemiel-schlimazel
March 16, 2023
– Shelved as:
in-goddess-we-trust
March 16, 2023
– Shelved as:
michigan
March 16, 2023
–
6.02%
"I wanted you. I fought you
for yourself, I wrestled
to open you, I hung on.
I sat on my love as on the lid
of a chest holding a hungry bear."
page
8
for yourself, I wrestled
to open you, I hung on.
I sat on my love as on the lid
of a chest holding a hungry bear."
March 16, 2023
–
12.03%
"Our future is a striped unicorn, fragile,
shy, the first of a new
species born without kind
to hostile kin."
page
16
shy, the first of a new
species born without kind
to hostile kin."
March 19, 2023
–
16.54%
"It's easy to kick my dog,
my child, my lover, the woman
across the desk. People
burning their lives away
for pennies pile up in the neighborhoods
like rusting car bodies.
Why not stroll down to the corner
yacht club and invite the chairman
of the board of IT & T
to settle it with his fists?"
page
22
my child, my lover, the woman
across the desk. People
burning their lives away
for pennies pile up in the neighborhoods
like rusting car bodies.
Why not stroll down to the corner
yacht club and invite the chairman
of the board of IT & T
to settle it with his fists?"
April 30, 2023
–
42.86%
"A strong woman is a woman who craves love
like oxygen or she turns blue choking."
page
57
like oxygen or she turns blue choking."
May 4, 2023
–
49.62%
"I'm a survivor, a scavenger
and I make the best I can out of the daily
disaster, I mold my icons out of newspaper mâché."
page
66
and I make the best I can out of the daily
disaster, I mold my icons out of newspaper mâché."
May 27, 2023
–
69.92%
"Never. . . have I wanted
or been willing to be or become a man.
I want only to be myself and free."
page
93
or been willing to be or become a man.
I want only to be myself and free."
June 6, 2023
–
Finished Reading
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message 1:
by
Jennifer
(new)
Jun 06, 2023 11:51AM
Well, that sample poem is great! I can see why you left us with that one, Julie, and I’m grateful. I’m not crazy about the political, either, unless it’s so integrated with the personal that it can’t be looked at separately. Sorry you didn’t love these, and hope you find a collection soon that sends you over the moon — male, female, or non-binary ;)
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Jennifer,I loved that poem, too, and I liked many of the great "one-liners" here. I don't want anyone to mistake me, as being against political activism, I just don't want it in my poetry.
Well, I hope no one does. Literature has been the one safe place for us to express ourselves freely for a long time, and even that is changing. We must preserve this freedom! It upsets me that we all fear public scolding for simply sharing our honest experience. Wait. Did I just get political? I’m so sorry. Your review is helpful to all of those who also don’t want the political in their poetry, and I imagine there are many of us. I recently posted a 2-star review of a poetry collection called, i am the rage, for a similar reason, although it also lacked technical skill in my very humble opinion.
I totally agree, Jennifer! We're either saying too much or too little these days. I don't know. Sometimes I feel like we can't win.
I don't like politics in fiction either. Before the brilliant Demon Copperhead, I was fed up with Barbara Kingsolver's political preaching in her last few novels. She and I agree in our politics, but I don't want any of it in novels. Fair points, Julie.
i wish i could get into poetry. it requires such concentration and a dedicated eye. as a previous politics student, i personally am not a huge fan of reading something where the authors beliefs are really obvious, even if they align with mine.
I feel exactly the same way, Barbara. It doesn't matter if the political thoughts expressed align with mine or not. I don't want to read them. I don't like politics in my places of worship, either, and I have quit groups and churches that just can't respect this boundary.
That is a lovely poem.Why women (of a certain age especially?) felt? feel? we had to have "credentials" to be taken seriously - because we did. We do.
I have loved so many of MP's novels over 5 decades. One I recall reading while I was an internal medicine resident in NYC during the AIDS crisis (before we even knew it was a virus in 1981) that was so very GOOD that I remember dreaming about the characters during my brief sleeps, and once I had to put it down for a week because I was so upset about something that happened. In a novel. While in real life I was caring for the critically ill - I've found her that tactile. But I'm old and political and cranky.
I don't read much poetry. But I enjoyed your review. And I always enjoy your candor and insight.
A beautiful review, Julie. I love the poem you included and cheers to Marge Piercy at age 87!
Well, you're certainly a genius - as the GR crowd can attest - even before your "third volume." I think this sample poem is terrific, but I'm sorry the rest wasn't a blue moon delight for you.
Lovely Elena,I'm happy to see you, amiga. If you ever get the chance, you might want to check out Richard Blanco's poetry. He's Cuban-American, he's gay, and he's an incredibly talented poet. He moves me to tears.
Dianne,Your comment is quite the endorsement for Marge Piercy's fiction! I'll need to check it out.
To be honest, I had no idea who she was, until I found her poetry. I've read her bio now, and a few friends have shown up on here to tell me about the influence her work has had on them. It's very humbling to learn how briefly we leave our mark on this planet.
And, to your comment regarding credentials: Yes. It's so true. I pursued 6 years of higher education, in literary criticism, and, even though that is a mere drop in the bucket to some folks on here (including you), it is still something I'm proud of, and has guided my path. However, I still have far too many occasions of asserting my opinion on here and having a man call me a "dumb bitch" or a "femi-Nazi" (just had this one in the past month) for having the "audacity" to have an opinion. I love how the insults always have some expression of misogyny as well.
It's been a long time since I've read poetry. An embarrassingly long time.
Julie wrote: "Dianne,Your comment is quite the endorsement for Marge Piercy's fiction! I'll need to check it out.
To be honest, I had no idea who she was, until I found her poetry. I've read her bio now, and a ..."
I'm so sorry. "femi-Nazi"? Really? You can be certain there's a mighty intellect behind that eructation. Anyone quoting 1990s Rush Limbaugh has definite quality thought behind their position.
Seems to me that anyone who needs to stoop to ad hominems is, by definition, without logic, argument, or reasonable opinion otherwise they would be stating those.
Once they start calling you nasty names you know you've won the debate. They know it, too.
And, of course, you're right about the misogyny. All the -isms, the hatreds - of women, of POC, of immigrants - are exacerbated when the entitled, especially white men, are threatened, and it will get much worse, I'm afraid, as the resources disappear in the coming years and scapegoats are blamed instead of the billionaires who have hoarded it.
But there I go, being political.
Yes--I was called a"femi-Nazi," for the first time in my life, here on GRs, by a former "friend" of mine who is no longer my friend. I suspect his belief system hasn't evolved much since Limbaugh's days, and he was probably a fan. Needless to say, we are no longer "friends."I have always been a fan of the pursuit of the Divine Feminine, but I actually didn't refer to myself as a feminist until very recently. I can almost directly credit recent, online misogynistic behavior to my conversion. I think I'd prefer to call myself a Neo-feminist, because I don't want to credit anything to Nazis, but, yes, I've had enough of bad behavior.
(P.S. That's me, being a little political now, too, I suppose. See what this Marge Piercy can still do?!).
Lorna: Yea!! I know. . . I was thrilled when I found out she was still alive and kicking.
Julie wrote: "(P.S. That's me, being a little political now, too, I suppose. See what this Marge Piercy can still do?!).":>)
Aww, Sarah. Thank you for those kind words.I always feel badly when I don't love someone's poetry. . . and I didn't even dislike these. . . I just wasn't swept up in glory, and I've been pretty spoiled in the poetry department lately.
