Ain't I a Woman! A Book of Women's Poetry from Around the World

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Ain't I a Woman! A Book of Women's Poetry from Around the World (Hardcover)

~ Illona Linthwaite (Author) 

• Publisher: Gramercy; 13th Ptg. edition (July 13, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517093650
• ISBN-13: 978-0517093658

OR

• Publisher: Lincolnwood, Ill. : Contemporary Books, 2000.
• ISBN: 0809225344

Contents

• House of Desire / Sherley Anne Williams
• Warning / Jenny Joseph
• My Country / Zindziswa Mandela
• Mamzelle / Mary Wilson
• If You Black Get Back / Cheryl Clarke
• Growing Up / U A Fanthorpe
• Witch / Jean Tepperman
• Sun Witness / Nurunnessa Choudhury
• Invitation to a Dance / Susan Wallbank
• Richard Brought His Flute / Nancy Morejon
• Lost, One Soul / Sandy McIntosh
• Other Fabrics, Other Mores! / Anna Maria Lenngren
• Nikki Rosa / Nikki Giovanni
• Cartwheels / Mary Lonnberg Smith
• Poem of Distant Childhood / Noemia da Sousa
• Blue Specks / Nurunnessa Choudhury
• Quatrains / Mahsati
• I Hate Poetry / Julia Vinograd
• I Said to Poetry / Alice Walker
• New Notebook / Maria Banus
• I Used to Think / Chirlane McCray
• Ama Credo / Margaret Reckord
• Mririda / Mririda N'ait Attik
• Sho Nuff / Nilene O A Foxworth
• African Beauty / Taiwo Olaleye-Oruene
• Almost Love / Magaly Sanchez
• To a Boy / Nancy Morejon
• Desire / Dinah Livingstone
• Every Day That I Love You / Teresita Fernandez
• To the tune 'A Floating Cloud Crosses Enchanted Mountain' / Huang Ho
• 'After he stripped off my clothes' / Villana
• Thanks / Nina Cassian
• Africa and the Caribbean / Jennifer Brown
• He May Be a Photograph of Himself / Tina Reid
• Return / Mary Dorcey
• Song (October 1969) / Kath Fraser
• On a Night of the Full Moon / Audre Lorde
• Sea Change / Mary Dorcey
• New Face / Alice Walker
• 'From her grave' / Gillian E Hanscombe
• Memorial I / Audre Lorde
• For D S / Christine Craig
• Disillusion / Maureen Burge
• Do You Fancy Me? / Dinah Butler
• Ever Notice How It Is with Women? / Margaret Randall
• Meaningful Exchange / Marge Piercy
• 'I see a man who is dull' / Anonymous
• Dry Rock Number / Tina Reid
• Some Men / Dazzly Anderson
• Good Old Body / Christine Donald
• Fat Blues / Charmaine Crowell
• 'The thin women woo each other' / Christine Donald
• Wha Fe Call I' / Valerie Bloom
• Diet / Maureen Burge
• Invitation / Grace Nichols
• Whistle, Daughter, Whistle / Anonymous
• Bride / Bella Akhmadulina
• 'Lucky bridegroom' / Sappho
• Poem for a Marriage / Christine Craig
• Auld Robin Gray / Lady Anne Lindsay
• Creation of the World / Eva Toth
• Marriage / Anna Wickham
• 'My husband is the same man' / Sila
• Marriage / Elaine Feinstein
• Nervous Prostration / Anna Wickham
• 'A free woman At last free!' / Sumangala's Mother
• 'I thought you were good' / Anonymous
• They Went Home / Maya Angelou
• 'Because we suspected' / Lady Ise
• Story of a Hotel Room / Rosemary Tonks
• For All Mary Magdalenes / Desanka Maksimovic
• In Memory, 1978 / Judith Kazantzis
• Death of a Dove / Nurunnessa Choudhury
• Ballade / Christine de Pisan
• Ballad / Gabriela Mistral
• To the tune 'The Fall of a Little Wild Goose' / Huang Ho
• Lady of Miracles / Nina Cassian
• Selected Quatrains / Mahsati
• What'll the Neighbours Say? / Sandra Kerr
• With Child / Genevieve Taggard
• Labour Pains / Yosano Akiko
• Miracle / Maureen Hawkins
• In My Name / Grace Nichols
• Woman into Man / Susan Wallbank
• My Baby Has No Name Yet / Kim Nam Jo
• For a Child Born Dead / Elizabeth Jennings
• Sleep Close to Me / Gabriela Mistral
• At the National Gallery / Judith Kazantzis
• Birthplace / Tahereh Saffarzadeh
• Mountain Girl / Rafaela Chacon Nardi
• Flower-Press / Penelope Shuttle
• From Poem to Her Daughter / Mwana Kupona Msham
• For My Daughter / Judith Kazantzis
• Sent from the Capital to Her Elder Daughter / Otomo no Sakanoe
• Daughter / Mary Dorcey
• Grande Jetee / Mary Mackey
• Mrs Johnson Objects / Clara Ann Thompson
• Her Sister / Moira O'Neill
• Mother and Child / Penelope Shuttle
• Boy and the Dream / Anna Wickham
• Sun Going Down upon Our Wrath / Denise Levertov
• Mother /k Nagase Kiyoko
• Distances / Katherine Gallagher
• Mother / Nancy Morejon
• Trying on for Size / Mary Dorcey
• Dad / Elaine Feinstein
• To My Father / Dinah Butler
• Father / Jean Kipkin
• Journey / Margaret Reckord
• One Life / Dinah Butler
• Cythera / Suniti Namjoshi
• 'Immortal Aphrodite, on your patterned throne' / Sappho
• Love Letter / Carole E Gregory
• Lilith Re-Tells Esther's Story / Michelene Wandor
• Vashti / Frances E W Harper
• From Jezebel Her Progress / Gillian E Hanscombe
• Look, Medusa! / Suniti Namjoshi
• Remember Medusa? / Eunice de Souza
• Eve Meets Medusa / Michelene Wandor
• I See Cleopatra / Nurunnessa Choudhury
• Cleopatra / Mary Mackey
• Cleopatra / Anna Akhmatova
• Chain / Christine Craig
• Anti Apart Hate Art / Michelle T Clinton
• You Will Be Hearing from Us Shortly / U A Fanthorpe
• Anti-Racist Person / Marsha Prescod
• 'Paki Go Home' / Himani Bannerji
• Hi De Buckras Hi! / Grace Nichols
• Ain't I a Woman? / Sojourner Truth
• Miss Geeta / Margaret Reckord
• I Love My Master / Nancy Morejon
• Skin-Teeth / Grace Nichols
• She's Free! / Frances E W Harper
• Woman's Issue / Margaret Atwood
• Ugly Things / Teresita Fernandez
• Ita / Yolanda Ulloa
• Epilogue I and II / Anna Akhmatova
• Survivor / Katherine Gallagher
• I Will Live and Survive / Irina Ratushinskaya
• Under Attack / Margaret Randall
• Artemis / Rita Boumi-Pappas
• Ala / Grace Nichols
• Krinio / Rita Boumi-Papps
• Be Still Heart / Nilene O A Foxworth
• Greenham Women / Wendy Poussard
• No War / Judith Kazantzis
• Day I Once Dreamed / Pat Arrowsmith
• Flesh / Deborah Levy
• Everything Is Wonderful / Jayne Cortez
• Women on the Road to Pine Gap / Wendy Poussard
• Like an Orchid in Deep Muddy Water / Nilene O A Foxworth
• I Live in Cuba / Lourdes Casal
• If You Want to Know Me / Noemia da Sousa
• White-Hot Blizzard / Irina Ratushinskaya
• To the tune 'The River Is Red' / Ch'iu Chin
• All That You Have Given Me Africa / Anoma Kanie
• Yes, I Am an African Woman / Nilene O A Foxworth
• Credo / Denise Levertov
• Praise / Dinah Livingstone
• Credo / Jean Lipkin
• Song of Hope / Daisy Yamora
• To My Unknown Friend / Irina Ratushinskaya
• Watching a Child Watching a Witch / Jenny Joseph
• Political Activist Living Alone / Pat Arrowsmith
• Now or Never / Astra
• Morning Athletes / Marge Piercy
• Poor Old Fat Woman / Christine Donald
• To the tune 'Eternal Happiness' / Li Ch'ing-Chao
• Short Biography of a Washerwoman / Yolanda Ulloa
• Old People Dozing / Denise Levertov
• After My Grandmother's Death / Michele Roberts
• Eurynome / Eleni Fourtouni
• Love / Nilene O A Foxworth
• Song of the Old Woman / Anonymous
• 'For her Birthday' / Susan Wallbank
• Folk Song / Anonymous
• Near Death / Stef Pixner
• Song of an Old Woman Abandoned by Her Tribe / Anonymous
• Life-Hook / Juana de Ibarbourou
• On Ageing / Maya Angelou
• One Flesh / Elizabeth Jennings
• Bean Eaters / Gwendolyn Brooks
• ' already old age is wrinkling my' / Sappho

Editorial Reviews

Review

Compiled with a specific purpose-to redress the omission of women's work in traditional writing collections-Ain't I A Woman! flows through the varied experiences of childhood, adolescence, love, sex, parenthood, family and work in the poetry of women from around the world. A welcome departure from the sometimes disjointed anthology, this collection is an exciting tool for discovering and celebrating women's contributions to poetry. -- From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by KS --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Spanning the centuries from Sappho's Greece to tenth-century Japan, from nineteenth-century Chile to Zindziswa Mandela's twentieth-century South Africa, the voices of these women poets express themes of love, injustice, motherhood, and loss, and the oppressions of race and sex. The sequence of the poems moves from youth to old age, and they bear witness to the triumphs as well as the pain and frustration of women in many times and in many places.

Among the many poets whose work is included are Anna Akhmatova, Maya Angelou, Judith Kazantzis, Gabriela Mistral, Marge Piercy, Irina Ratushinskaya and Alice Walker.

Illona Linthwaite began gathering this collection several years ago, initially for a theatrical performance. Here, in this unique exchange between women of many races, affirming their differences and what they have in common, are more than 150 poems which assert the black abolitionist Sojourner Truth's challenge, "Ain't I a Woman!"

In addition to the poems, there are biographies of the 91 contributors.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews   9 of 9 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Boost on Self-Esteem, June 7, 2000 By  Christine Bryant (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Ain't I a Woman! A Book of Women's Poetry from Around the World (Hardcover) Ain't I a Woman was not a surprise to me. It is full of beautiful works of art. This book is full of voices of many different women, with different lives, different backgrounds but from their voices you can feel their strength and each voice in that book can add to your self-esteem and make you feel stronger about yourself as a women with every poem. Although some poems are not as powerful as others, their messages are still there: "I lived, I saw, I loved, I struggled, I died, but most importantly I felt, felt what life was like and from my words you might learn how it really is to be a woman". This book should be read by anyone who has time get lost in its poetry. I personally read a piece of the book everyday at work and I am glad that I made the time. There are many different writers in this book and I recommend reading different works from those authors as well.   9 of 9 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Bold, striking, and sure to produce favorites, July 31, 1999 By A Customer This review is from: Ain't I A Woman! A Book of Women's Poetry from Around the World (Paperback) This book obtains its title from Sojourner Truth's incomparable speech in 1851, and for the most part is brilliant and moving. My main complaint is that it focuses on the physical (sex, childbirth, etc.) so much that it could be classified as erotic poetry instead of a full exploration of womanhood. However, look for amazing cultural and chronological diversity in authors, and refreshing humor in poems like "Sho nuff." The development of the book is thematic, according to stages of life by also by subject. Series show different visions of famous women such as Jezebel, Cleopatra, and Medusa, which ends with a hilarious conversation between Medusa and Eve. The poems in this collection really strike - not everyone will like everything, but I'm sure everyone will find SOMETHING in here that really gets their attention. My personal favorite is "Witch." There are dozens of poems in here, enough to make the book seem very long, but since no poem is longer than two pages, I garantee you won't get bored.   5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Classic and modern women's poetry from around the world., May 10, 2002 By  MLPlayfair (Ravenna, OH) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)    This review is from: Ain't I a Woman! A Book of Women's Poetry from Around the World (Hardcover) This is one of the best anthologies of poetry I've ever found. The purpose: Bring together words from women of all cultures, all ages, all corners of the world. Here are young women, old women, fat women, starving women, lives touched by peace, war, spiritual joy, physical abuse, passion, motherhood, loss. There are beautiful, haunting words here. There are cold, hard, brutal images here. If you're a woman who complains about feminists, please read this book and try to understand what women have had to go through so that you could be where you are today: free to complain. If only to have a copy of Sojourner Truth's immortal "Ain't I a Woman?" speech from 1852, this book would be worth the price. Read this book for the incredible messages here. You will be moved.