Men-Poets and Women-Poets

I don't read enough poets who are women. In fact, my poetry shelves pretty much resemble me: there are a lot of white, straight religion-obsessed men in there. So I was excited to borrow "100 Essential Modern Poems by Women," an anthology from about the 1910s to the 1970s. It included this.

The Ache of Marriage

Denise Levertov

The ache of marriage:

thigh and tongue, beloved,   

are heavy with it,   

it throbs in the teeth

We look for communion

and are turned away, beloved,   

each and each

It is leviathan and we   

in its belly

looking for joy, some joy   

not to be known outside it

two by two in the ark of   

the ache of it.

Pretty great, right? If it were all stuff this caliber I'd be ecstatic. 


But after only a few pages I found nearly all of the entries include more biographical information than poetry. The most egregious example is Elisabeth Bishop, to whom they allot a four-page biographical sketch and not a single poem! Apparently, it's due to copyright and licensing restrictions but in that case why BOTHER?! Your anthology doesn't say "100 Essential Modern Women Poets: Their Lives, Loves and Personalities." It's supposed to be about the work. 

I may be treading on dangerous ground here, but to label these "poems by women" and then focus intently on their biographies seems to be worthless. I'm not in the camp of those who claim any and all biographical information taints your understanding of the poem. But I do think that it cheapens the achievements of these poets. 

If there's one thing I'm coming to believe fervently, almost violently, it's that Being a Poet has nothing to do with poetry. Poetry is not about berets, puffy shirts, the open road, bongos, the Lake District, absinthe, sax solos, quill pens, sleeping on benches, sleeping on floors, sleeping on women or men. (Though I have no objection to these things being in poems.)


Poetry is about doing the work. At the end of it, if you're lucky, you won't have achieved immortality or lasting fame or riches or influence or power over TA's. You'll have some words on a page that you put a lot of time and effort into. And if that's not enough, you need to get into a different racket. Maybe selling berets and puffy shirts.

To this jackass.