Preface xix
ENHEDUANNA (CA. 2300 BCE)
Inanna and the Holy Light 1
Moon Goddess Inanna and An 1
Innana and Enlil 2
Innana and Ebih 2
Banishment from Ur 2
Restoration of Enheduanna to Her Former Station 3
QUEEN HATSHEPSUT (D. 1482 BCE)
Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut's Apologia 4
ANONYMOUS EGYPTIAN (CA. 1500 BCE)
I find my love fishing 6
ANONYMOUS JEW (10TH–3RD CENTURIES BCE)
from the Song of Songs 7
SAPPHO (B. 630–612 BCE)
Vision 12
World 12
Supreme Sight on the Black Earth 12
Seizure 13. To Aphrodite (1) 14
Aphrodite of the Flowers at Knossos Coming Down from Heaven's Mountain 15
Return, Gongyla 15
To Aphrodite (2) 15
Dancers 16
Evening Star 16
Notice 16
Age and Light 17
An Epiphany about Gongyla, Hermes and Hades 17
Old Age 18
Eros 18
ZI YE (TZU YEH) (6TH–3RD CENTURIES BCE?)
I heard my love was going to Yang-chou 19
All night I could not sleep 19
PATACARA (6TH–5TH CENTURIES BCE?)
Patacara Speaks 20
SANGHA (6TH–5TH CENTURIES BCE?)
I gave up my house 21
SAKULA (6TH–5TH CENTURIES BCE?)
When I lived in a house 22
DANTIKA (6TH–5TH CENTURIES BCE?)
As I left my daytime resting place 23
NANDUTTA (6TH–3RD CENTURIES BCE?)
Nanduttara 24
ANONYMOUS BUDDHIST SISTER (6TH–3RD CENTURIES BCE?)
An Anonymous Sister Speaks 25
SISUPACALA (6TH–3RD CENTURIES BCE?)
Sisupacala Speaks with Mara 26
SUMANGALA'S MOTHER (6TH–3RD CENTURIES BCE?)
I am a free woman 27
GOVINDASVAMIN (5TH CENTURY BCE–1000 CE?)
Holy sixth day 28
ANONYMOUS SANSKRIT SONGS (5TH CENTURY BCE–1000 CE?)
When he comes back 29
My husband 29
He who stole my virginity 29
PRAXILLA (CA. 450 BCE)
Light and Earth 31
KORINNA (LATE 3RD CENTURY BCE)
Hermes 32
MIRYAM, MOTHER OF YESHUA (1ST CENTURY CE)
Song of Miryam 33
ANONYMOUS INDIAN (1sT CENTURY CE)
from the Gatha Saptashati 34
ANONYMOUS GNOSTIC REVEALER (2ND–3RD CENTURIES CE)
The Thunder and the Perfect Mind 40
AL-KHANSA (575–646 CE)
Sleepless 42
RABIA THE MYSTIC (712–801)
You are the companion of my heart 44
Your prayers were light 44
O my Lord, if I worship you 44
Omy Lord 45
YESHE TSOGYEL (757?–817?)
This Supreme Being is the Dakini Queen of the Lake of Awareness 46
KASSIA (CA. 840)
Mary Magdalene 47
WU CAILUAN (WU TS'AILUAN) (9TH CENTURY)
My mind is like a jade jar of ice 48
Let the ox and horse be called 48
My body lives in the city 48
YU XUANJI (YU HSUAN-CHI) (843–868)
At the End of Spring 49
Regretful Thoughts 49
For Hidden Mist Pavilion 50
Answering Li Ying Who Showed Me His Poems about Summer Fishing 50
ISE SHIKIBU (LADY ISE) (9TH–10TH CENTURIES)
On Seeing the Field Being Singed 51
Near a Waterfall at Ryumon 51
IZUMI SHIKIBU (LADY IZUMI) (CA. 974–1034)
From darkness 52
Someone else 52
When you broke from me 52
Orange leaves are gone 52
If you love me 53
On this winter night 53
Here in this world 53
ANONYMOUS JAPANESE TANKA (10TH CENTURY?)
With every note 54
ANONYMOUS LATIN SONG (CA. 1000)
Planctus (Lament) 55
LI QINGZHAO (Li CH'ING-CHAO) (1084–CA. 1151)
On the Earth and in Heaven 56
Where Am I Going? 56
Warm rain and sunny wind 57
To the Tune of "Silk Washing Brook" 57
To the Tune of "Dream Song" 58
To the Tune of "Spring at Wu Ling" 58
Gates of Heaven 58
HILDEGARD OF BINGEN (1098–1179)
O how great is the miracle 60
O Virgin in your diadem! 60
Antiphon of the Gem Who Is Mary 62
Virginal Lily 62
SUN BUER (SUN PU-ERH) (1124–?)
Nurturing the Child 64
For Brightness, Eat Raw 64
ANONYMOUS PROVENÇAL (12TH CENTURY)
My Lady Carenza of the lovely body 66
MAHADEVI (12TH CENTURY)
Riding the blue sapphire mountains 67
People 67
ZHU XUZHEN (CHU SHU-CHEN) (CA. 1200)
Sorrow 68
ANONYMOUS FRENCH SONG (12TH–13TH CENTURIES)
I am a young glad girl 69
BEATRICE OF NAZARETH (CA. 1200–1268)
Grandeur of Love 70
MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG (CA. 1212–1282)
How God Answers the Soul 71
How the Soul Speaks to God 71
MUKTABAI (13TH CENTURY)
Where darkness is gone I live 72
Though he has no form 72
HADFWIJCH OF BRABANT (13TH CENTURY)
Love Has Seven Names 73
WANG QINGHUI (WANG CH'ING-HUI) (13TH CENTURY)
To the Tune of "The River Is Red" 75
MARGUERITE PORETE (D. 1310)
To the Reader of The Mirror of Simple Souls 76
The Soul and Christ the Chivalric Lover 76
Soul to Lover 77
SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA (1347–1380)
Eternal Father, we were locked up in you 78
LAL DED (LALLA) (14TH CENTURY?)
The soul, like the moon 79
I drag a boat over the ocean 79
SISTER BERTKEN (1427?–1514)
Garden 80
ANONYMOUS NAHUATL (15TH CENTURY)
Poem to Ease Birth 82
Poem to Be Recited Every Eight Years 82
VITTORIA DA COLONNA (1492–1547)
I live on this depraved and lonely cliff 85
HUANG E (HUANG O) (1498–1569)
To the Tune of "Soaring Clouds" 86
MIRABAI (CA. 1498–1573)
He took his sword 87
The night is painted red 87
Mira is dancing 88
Rama is my box of gems 88
When I don't see you 89
Here is my dress 89
The charmer stole my ring 89
My love is in my house 90
No, it is not possible 90
ANONYMOUS SPANISH SONGS (15TH–16TH CENTURIES)
Under the oak tree 92
Since I'm a girl 93
LOUISE LABÉ (1525–1566)
White Venus 94
Lute, companion of my calamity 94
If I could linger on his lovely chest 95
EMILIA LANIER (1569–1645)
Eves Apologie 96
SOR VIOLANTE DO CÉU (1602?–1693)
Voice of a Dissipated Woman Inside a Tomb 99
ANNE BRADSTREET (1612?–1672)
Before the Birth of One of Her Children 100
Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House 101
In Memory of My Dear Grandchild 102
SOR JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ (1648/51–1695)
To Her Portrait 104
In Which She Satisfies a Fear with the Rhetoric of Tears 104
To Hope 105
from First Dream 105
PHILLIS WHEATLEY (1753–1784)
On Being Brought from Africa to America. 108
ANNETTE VON DROSTE-HULSHOFF (1797–1848)
The Last Day of the Year (New Year's Eve) 109
WU ZAO (WU TSAO) (19TH CENTURY)
For the Courtesan Ch'ing Lin 111
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING (1806–1861)
from Sonnets from the Portuguese 112
To George Sand, a Recognition 112
BIBI HAYATI (D. 1853)
Before there was a hint of civilization 113
Is it the night of power 113
How can I see the splendor of the moon 114
CHARLOTTE BRONTE (1816–1855)
Speak of the North 116
EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886)
I dwell in Possibility 117
The Brain—is wider than the Sky 117
The Soul selects her own Society 118
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church 118
My period had come for Prayer 118
I'm ceded—I've stopped being Theirs 119
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain 120
It might be lonelier 120
Me from Myself—to banish 121
Come slowly—Eden! 121
Wild Nights—Wild Nights! 121
ROSALIA DE CASTRO (1837–1885)
They say that plants don't talk 123
ELSE LASKER-SCHULER (1869–1945)
Abraham and Isaac 124
Jacob and Esau 124
YOSANO AKIKO (1878–1942)
Spring quickly passes 126
In return for all 126
It was only 126
First Labor Pains 126
H.D. (1886–1961)
from The Walls Do Not Fall 128
from Tribute to the Angels 132
from The Flowering of the Rod 132
MARIANNE MOORE (1887–1972)
The Steeple-Jack 136
ANNA AKHMATOVA (1889–1966)
How can you look at the Neva 139
Lot's Wife 139
Until I collapse by the fence 140
The Summer Garden 140
NELLY SACHS (1891–1970)
Someone Is Alone 142
White Snake 143
ALFONSINA STORNI (1892–1938)
Lighthouse in the Night 144
My Sister 144
I Am Going to Sleep (Suicide Poem) 146
EDITH SODERGRAN (1892–1923)
Two Goddesses 147
Vernal Mystery 147
Instinct 147
MARINA TSVETAYEVA (1892–1941)
We shall not escape Hell 149
Bent with worry 150
from Verses about Moscow 150
from Poems for Blok 151
Wherever you are I can reach you 153
ANONYMOUS HAWAIIAN
Dirge 154
ANONYMOUS INNUIT
Far Inland 155
LORINE NIEDECKER (1903–1970)
Hear 156
Swept snow, Li Po 156
Tradition 156
Easter Greeting 157
BETTI ALVER (B. 1906)
Iron Heaven 158
THÉRÈSE PLANTIER (B. 1911)
Overdue Balance Sheet 159
MURIEL RUKEYSER (1913–1980)
Waiting for Icarus 160
JULIA DE BURGOS (1914–1953)
Nothing 161
RUTH STONE (B. 1915)
Green Apples 162
Finding Myself 162
Once More 163
The Mothers 163
The Plan 164
Look to the Future 165
ANNE HEBERT (B. 1916)
Life in the Castle 166
Bread Is Born 166
GWENDOLYN BROOKS (B. 1917)
from The Children of the Poor 169
The Mother 169
Hunchback Girl: She Thinks of Heaven 170
The Preacher: Ruminates Behind the Sermon 171
The Rites for Cousin Vit 171
The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock 172
GLORIA FUERTES (B. 1918)
Interior Landscape 174
Human Geography 174
MARY ELLEN SOLT (B. 1920)
Forsythia 176
DENISE LEVERTOV (1923–1998)
The Life of Others 177
WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA (B. 1923)
Lot's Wife 178
On the Banks of the Styx 179
I Am Too Near 180
INGEBORG BACHMANN (1926–1973)
You want the summer lightning 182
The Firstborn Land 182
Out of the corpse-warm vestibule of heaven 183
ANNE SEXTON (1928–1974)
Somewhere in Africa 184
Not So. Not So. 185
As It Was Written 186
Mary's Song 187
SYLVIA PLATH (1932–1963)
Crossing the Water 188
The Moon and the Yew Tree 188
Edge 189
INGRID JONKER (1933–1965)
This Journey 191
LUCILLE CLIFTON (B. 1936)
anna speaks of the childhood of mary her daughter 192
holy night 192
leda I 193
slaveships 193
david, musing 194
what manner of man 194
BELLA AKHMADULINA (B. 1937)
In the Emptied Rest Home 195
LINDA GREGG (B. 1942)
God's Place 197
Slow Dance by the Ocean 197
In Dirt under Olive Trees on the Hill at Evening 198
All the Spring Lends Itself to Her 198
A Flower No More than Itself 199
JENI COUZYN (B. 1942)
Spell for Jealousy 200
Creation 201
TESS GALLAGHER (B. 1943)
Wake 202
LOUISE GLUCK (B. 1943)
Mythic Fragment 203
YONA WALLACH (1944–1985)
Never Will I Hear the Sweet Voice of God 204
Not a Man Not a Woman 204
LINDA HOGAN (B. 1947)
Guarding a Child's Sleep 206
OLGA BROUMAS (B. 1949) AND T BEGLEY (B. 1956)
from Saphho's Gymnasium 207
LILIANA URSU (B. 1949)
The Moon 213
ANNE CARSON (B. 1950)
from The Truth about God 214
from Book of Isaiah 215
DEBORAH DIGGES (B. 1950)
Winter Barn 217
Lilacs 218
The Gardens Offered in Place of My Mother's Dying 219
CAROLYN FORCHE (B. 1950)
Elegy 222
from The Notebook of an Uprising 223
The Garden Shukkei-en 225
JORIE GRAHAM (B. 1951)
Pietà 227
Evening Prayer 228
JOY HARJO (B. 1951)
Bleed Through 230
BRENDA HILLMAN (B. 1951)
First Thought 232
First Tractate 233
SHU DING (SHU TING) (B. 1952)
Two or Three Incidents Recollected 236
ANITA ENDREZZE (B. 1952)
November Harvest 237
AMINA SAID (B. 1953)
The Bird is Mediation 239
On the Tattered Edges 239
My Woman's Transparence 240
RACHIDA MADANI (B. 1953)
Here I Am Once More 241
ROSANNA WARREN (B. 1954)
Max Jacob at Saint Benoît 243
LOUISE ERDRICH (B. 1955)
Fooling God 244
ALIKI BARNSTONE (B. 1956)
Blue 246
Bathing Jesus 247
LUCIE BROCK-BROIDO (B. 1956)
Of the Finished World 248
The One Thousand Days 249
Physicism 250
Unforgettable, for All My Uncertainty 251
Soul Keeping Company 251
Notes on the Poets 253
Credits 279
