Circe's Lament: Anthology of Wild Women Poetry

Circe's Lament collects work by some of the best poets writing today—from Ellen Bass to Frank X Walker—in celebration of the wild feminine: the fierce, the furious, the bruised and battered, the hilarious, the mythical, the stereotypical, the fairytale turned inside out. Here you'll find Miss America and Janis Joplin, Barbie and Medusa, along with—in Nickole Brown's stunning and tender homage—a grandmother who can cuss up a storm and uses "fucker" as a term of endearment. The women in these poems behave in the most unladylike ways—swearing, sexing, drinking, dancing, hitting back, running away, bleeding, broke and broken. But just when you might start to think this celebration of "the bad girl" is veering toward romanticizing her, comes a poem like "The Girl," by Linda Casebeer—as heart-breaking and frank and true a poem about being young and female and vulnerable and tough as I've ever read anywhere. Read it and weep. And be grateful for the work these editors have done to bring these voices to us.

Circe's Lament is a collection of powerhouse poems by women that make you want to get down and growl. These aren't poems for the faint of heart or the bashful. These are poems for the she-wolves. These are poems for the brazen hussies. These are poems for the wicked, the loud-mouthed, the ballsy, and the big-hearted. Lean in and listen closely. They'll teach you how to bite.