Here are poems of modern day survival, set in Los Angeles. The woman of the title (from a story by Mary Austin) provides an image for the poet of one who "came and went about our western world", establishing a saving relationship with the land.
Poetry. Here are poems of modern day survival from Los Angeles. The woman of the title, from a story by Mary Austin, provides an image for the poet of one who "came and went about our western world," establishing a saving relationship with the land. The urban poet grapples with the themes of her life: her dying father, never able to use his teaching credentials; her adjunct teaching position in the LA community college system, full of overcrowding, layoffs, and her beautiful immigrant students; the Southcentral riots, a forest fire, a flood, and an earthquake complicating her labors; her friend, a woman climber, who dies of a heart attack in the emergency room; her improbable lover who brings plants and flowers, beer and confusion; and always her own return to the healing land. This is personal poetry with an ecofeminist flavor.