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BY HERSELF: Women Reclaim Poetry
Edited by Molly McQuade
Graywolf, 425 pages, $16
The female poets who have contributed essays on craft and influences to this collection do not conform to any particular ideology or school. Instead, prominent writers such as former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove offer evidence of why poetry is part of everyday life. One of the collection’s most provocative essays focuses on a former Chicago housing project: Poet Elizabeth Alexander explores Gwendolyn Brooks’ searing 1964 epic, “In the Mecca.”
