Table Of Contents:
Preface xix

Enheduanna (CA. 2300 BCE)

Inanna and the Holy Light 1(1)

Moon Goddess Inanna and An 1(1)

Innana and Enlil 2(1)

Innana and Ebih 2(1)

Banishment from Ur 2(1)

Restoration of Enheduanna to Her Former Station 3(1)

Queen Hatshepsut (D. 1482 BCE)

Pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut's Apologia 4(2)

Anonymous Egyptian (CA. 1500 BCE)

I find my love fishing 6(1)

Anonymous Jew (10th--3rd centuries BCE)

from the Song of Songs 7(5)

Sappho (B. 630--612 BCE)

Vision 12(1)

World 12(1)

Supreme Sight on the Black Earth 12(1)

Seizure 13(1)

To Aphrodite (1) 14(1)

Aphrodite of the Flowers at Knossos Coming Down from Heaven's Mountain 15(1)

Return, Gongyla 15(1)

To Aphrodite (2) 16(1)

Dancers 16(1)

Evening Star 16(1)

Notice 16(1)

Age and Light 17(1)

An Epiphany about Gongyla, Hermes and Hades 17(1)

Old Age 18(1)

Eros 18(1)

Zi Ye (Tzu Yeh) (6th--3rd centuries BCE?)

I heard my love was going to Yang-chou 19(1)

All night I could not sleep 19(1)

Patacara (6th--5th centuries BCE?)

Patacara Speaks 20(1)

Sangha (6th--5th centuries BCE?)

I gave up my house 21(1)

Sakula (6th--5th centuries BCE?)

When I lived in a house 22(1)

Dantika (6th--5th centuries BCE?)

As I left my daytime resting place 23(1)

Nandutta (6th--5th centuries BCE?)

Nanduttara 24(1)

Anonymous Buddhist Sister (6th--3rd centuries BCE?)

An Anonymous Sister Speaks 25(1)

Sisupacala (6th--3rd centuries BCE?)

Sisupacala Speaks with Mara 26(1)

Sumangala's Mother (6th--3rd centuries BCE?)

I am a free woman 27(1)

Govindasvamin (5th century BCE--1000 CE?)

Holy sixth day 28(1)

Anonymous Sanskrit Songs (5th century BCE--1000 CE?)

When he comes back 29(1)

My husband 29(1)

He who stole my virginity 29(2)

Praxilla (CA. 450 BCE)

Light and Earth 31(1)

Korinna (Late 3rd century BCE)

Hermes 32(1)

Miryam, Mother of Yeshua (1st century CE)

Song of Miryam 33(1)

Anonymous Indian (1st century CE)

from the Gatha Saptashati 34(6)

Anonymous Gnostic Revealer (2nd--3rd centuries CE)

The Thunder and the Perfect Mind 40(2)

al-Khansa (575--646 CE)

Sleepless 42(2)

Rabia the Mystic (712--801)

You are the companion of my heart 44(1)

Your prayers were light 44(1)

O my Lord, if I worship you 44(1)

O my Lord 45(1)

Yeshe Tsogyel (757?--817?)

This Supreme Being is the Dakini Queen of the Lake of Awareness 46(1)

Kassia (CA. 840)

Mary Magdalene 47(1)

Wu Cailuan (Wu Ts'ailuan) (9th century)

My mind is like a jade jar of ice 48(1)

Let the ox and horse be called 48(1)

My body lives in the city 48(1)

Yu Xuanji (Yu Hsuan-chi) (843--868)

At the End of Spring 49(1)

Regretful Thoughts 49(1)

For Hidden Mist Pavilion 50(1)

Answering Li Ying Who Showed Me His Poems about Summer Fishing 50(1)

Ise Shikibu (Lady Ise) (9th--10th centuries)

On Seeing the Field Being Singed 51(1)

Near a Waterfall at Ryumon 51(1)

Izumi Shikibu (Lady Izumi) (CA. 974--1034)

From darkness 52(1)

Someone else 52(1)

When you broke from me 52(1)

Orange leaves are gone 52(1)

If you love me 53(1)

On this winter night 53(1)

Here in this world 53(1)

Anonymous Japanese Tanka (10th century?)

With every note 54(1)

Anonymous Latin Song (CA. 1000)

Planctus (Lament) 55(1)

Li Qingzhao (Li Ch'ing-chao) (1084--CA. 1151)

On the Earth and in Heaven 56(1)

Where Am I Going? 56(1)

Warm rain and sunny wind 57(1)

To the Tune of ``Silk Washing Brook'' 57(1)

To the Tune of ``Dream Song'' 58(1)

To the Tune of ``Spring at Wu Ling'' 58(1)

Gates of Heaven 58(2)

Hildegard of Bingen (1098--1179)

O how great is the miracle 60(1)

O Virgin in your diadem! 60(2)

Antiphon of the Gem Who Is Mary 62(1)

Virginal Lily 62(2)

Sun Buer (Sun Pu-erh) (1124--?)

Nurturing the Child 64(1)

For Brightness, Eat Raw 64(2)

Anonymous Provencal (12th century)

My Lady Carenza of the lovely body 66(1)

Mahadevi (12th century)

Riding the blue sapphire mountains 67(1)

People 67(1)

Zhu Xuzhen (Chu Shu-chen) (CA. 1200)

Sorrow 68(1)

Anonymous French Song (12th--13th centuries)

I am a young glad girl 69(1)

Beatrice of Nazareth (CA. 1200--1268)

Grandeur of Love 70(1)

Mechthild of Magdeburg (CA. 1212--1282)

How God Answers the Soul 71(1)

How the Soul Speaks to God 71(1)

Muktabai (13th century)

Where darkness is gone I live 72(1)

Though he has no form 72(1)

Hadewijch of Brabant (13th century)

Love Has Seven Names 73(2)

Wang Qinghui (Wang Ch'ing-hui) (13th century)

To the Tune of ``The River Is Red'' 75(1)

Marguerite Porete (D. 1310)

To the Reader of The Mirror of Simple Souls 76(1)

The Soul and Christ the Chivalric Lover 76(1)

Soul to Lover 77(1)

Saint Catherine of Siena (1347--1380)

Eternal Father, we were locked up in you 78(1)

Lal Ded (Lalla) (14th century?)

The soul, like the moon... 79(1)

I drag a boat over the ocean 79(1)

Sister Bertken (1427?--1514)

Garden 80(2)

Anonymous Nahuatl (15th century)

Poem to Ease Birth 82(1)

Poem to Be Recited Every Eight Years... 82(3)

Vittoria da Colonna (1492--1547)

I live on this depraved and lonely cliff 85(1)

Huang E (Huang O) (1498--1569)

To the Tune of ``Soaring Clouds'' 86(1)

Mirabai (CA. 1498--1573)

He took his sword 87(1)

The night is painted red 87(1)

Mira is dancing 88(1)

Rama is my box of gems 88(1)

When I don't see you 89(1)

Here is my dress 89(1)

The charmer stole my ring 89(1)

My love is in my house 90(1)

No, it is not possible 90(2)

Anonymous Spanish Songs (15th--16th centuries)

Under the oak tree 92(1)

Since I'm a girl 93(1)

Louise Labe (1525--1566)

White Venus 94(1)

Lute, companion of my calamity 94(1)

If I could linger on his lovely chest 95(1)

Emilia Lanier (1569--1645)

Eves Apologie 96(3)

Sor Violante do Ceu (1602?--1693)

Voice of a Dissipated Woman Inside a Tomb 99(1)

Anne Bradstreet (1612?--1672)

Before the Birth of One of Her Children 100(1)

Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House... 101(1)

In Memory of My Dear Grandchild... 102(2)

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648/51--1695)

To Her Portrait 104(1)

In Which She Satisfies a Fear with the Rhetoric of Tears 104(1)

To Hope 105(1)

from First Dream 105(3)

Phillis Wheatley (1753--1784)

On Being Brought from Africa to America 108(1)

Annette von Droste-Hulshoff (1797--1848)

The Last Day of the Year (New Year's Eve) 109(2)

Wu Zao (Wu Tsao) (19th century)

For the Courtesan Ch'ing Lin 111(1)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806--1861)

from Sonnets from the Portuguese 112(1)

To George Sand, a Recognition 112(1)

Bibi Hayati (D. 1853)

Before there was a hint of civilization 113(1)

Is it the night of power 113(1)

How can I see the splendor of the moon 114(2)

Charlotte Bronte (1816--1855)

Speak of the North 116(1)

Emily Dickinson (1830--1886)

I dwell in Possibility 117(1)

The Brain---is wider than the Sky 117(1)

The Soul selects her own Society 118(1)

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church 118(1)

My period had come for Prayer 118(1)

I'm ceded---I've stopped being Theirs 119(1)

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain 120(1)

It might be lonelier 120(1)

Me from Myself---to banish 121(1)

Come slowly---Eden! 121(1)

Wild Nights---Wild Nights! 121(2)

Rosalia de Castro (1837--1885)

They say that plants don't talk 123(1)

Else Lasker-Schuler (1869--1945)

Abraham and Isaac 124(1)

Jacob and Esau 124(2)

Yosano Akiko (1878--1942)

Spring quickly passes 126(1)

In return for all 126(1)

It was only 126(1)

First Labor Pains 126(2)

H.D. (1886--1961)

from The Walls Do Not Fall 128(4)

from Tribute to the Angels 132(1)

from The Flowering of the Rod 132(4)

Marianne Moore (1887--1972)

The Steeple-Jack 136(3)

Anna Akhmatova (1889--1966)

How can you look at the Neva 139(1)

Lot's Wife 139(1)

Until I collapse by the fence 140(1)

The Summer Garden 140(2)

Nelly Sachs (1891--1970)

Someone Is Alone 142(1)

White Snake 143(1)

Alfonsina Storni (1892--1938)

Lighthouse in the Night 144(1)

My Sister 144(2)

I Am Going to Sleep (Suicide Poem) 146(1)

Edith Sodergran (1892--1923)

Two Goddesses 147(1)

Vernal Mystery 147(1)

Instinct 147(2)

Marina Tsvetayeva (1892--1941)

We shall not escape Hell 149(1)

Bent with worry 150(1)

from Verses about Moscow 150(1)

from Poems for Blok 151(2)

Wherever you are I can reach you 153(1)

Anonymous Hawaiian

Dirge 154(1)

Anonymous Innuit

Far Inland 155(1)

Lorine Niedecker (1903--1970)

Hear 156(1)

Swept snow, Li Po 156(1)

Tradition 156(1)

Easter Greeting 157(1)

Betti Alver (B. 1906)

Iron Heaven 158(1)

Therese Plantier (B. 1911)

Overdue Balance Sheet 159(1)

Muriel Rukeyser (1913--1980)

Waiting for Icarus 160(1)

Julia de Burgos (1914--1953)

Nothing 161(1)

Ruth Stone (B. 1915)

Green Apples 162(1)

Finding Myself 162(1)

Once More 163(1)

The Mothers 163(1)

The Plan 164(1)

Look to the Future 165(1)

Anne Hebert (B. 1916)

Life in the Castle 166(1)

Bread Is Born 166(3)

Gwendolyn Brooks (B. 1917)

from The Children of the Poor 169(1)

The Mother 169(1)

Hunchback Girl: She Thinks of Heaven 170(1)

The Preacher: Ruminates Behind the Sermon 171(1)

The Rites for Cousin Vit 171(1)

The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock 172(2)

Gloria Fuertes (B. 1918)

Interior Landscape 174(1)

Human Geography 174(2)

Mary Ellen Solt (B. 1920)

Forsythia 176(1)

Denise Levertov (1923--1998)

The Life of Others 177(1)

Wislawa Szymborska (B. 1923)

Lot's Wife 178(1)

On the Banks of the Styx 179(1)

I Am Too Near 180(2)

Ingeborg Bachmann (1926--1973)

You want the summer lightning 182(1)

The Firstborn Land 182(1)

Out of the corpse-warm vestibule of heaven... 183(1)

Anne Sexton (1928--1974)

Somewhere in Africa 184(1)

Not So. Not So. 185(1)

As It Was Written 186(1)

Mary's Song 187(1)

Sylvia Plath (1932--1963)

Crossing the Water 188(1)

The Moon and the Yew Tree 188(1)

Edge 189(2)

Ingrid Jonker (1933--1965)

This Journey 191(1)

Lucille Clifton (B. 1936)

anna speaks of the childhood of mary her daughter 192(1)

holy night 192(1)

leda I 193(1)

slaveships 193(1)

david, musing 194(1)

what manner of man 194(1)

Bella Akhmadulina (B. 1937)

In the Emptied Rest Home 195(2)

Linda Gregg (B. 1942)

God's Place 197(1)

Slow Dance by the Ocean 197(1)

In Dirt under Olive Trees on the Hill at Evening 198(1)

All the Spring Lends Itself to Her 198(1)

A Flower No More than Itself 199(1)

Jeni Couzyn (B. 1942)

Spell for Jealousy 200(1)

Creation 201(1)

Tess Gallagher (B. 1943)

Wake 202(1)

Louise Gluck (B. 1943)

Mythic Fragment 203(1)

Yona Wallach (1944--1985)

Never Will I Hear the Sweet Voice of God 204(1)

Not a Man Not a Woman 204(2)

Linda Hogan (B. 1947)

Guarding a Child's Sleep 206(1)

Olga Broumas (B. 1949) and T Begley (B. 1956)

from Saphho's Gymnasium 207(6)

Liliana Ursu (B. 1949)

The Moon 213(1)

Anne Carson (B. 1950)

from The Truth about God 214(1)

from Book of Isaiah 215(2)

Deborah Digges (B. 1950)

Winter Barn 217(1)

Lilacs 218(1)

The Gardens Offered in Place of My Mother's Dying 219(3)

Carolyn Forche (B. 1950)

Elegy 222(1)

from The Notebook of an Uprising 223(2)

The Garden Shukkei-en 225(2)

Jorie Graham (B. 1951)

Pieta 227(1)

Evening Prayer 228(2)

Joy Harjo (B. 1951)

Bleed Through 230(2)

Brenda Hillman (B. 1951)

First Thought 232(1)

First Tractate 233(3)

Shu Ding (Shu Ting) (B. 1952)

Two or Three Incidents Recollected 236(1)

Anita Endrezze (B. 1952)

November Harvest 237(2)

Amina Said (B. 1953)

The Bird is Mediation 239(1)

On the Tattered Edges... 239(1)

My Woman's Transparence 240(1)

Rachida Madani (B. 1953)

Here I Am Once More... 241(2)

Rosanna Warren (B. 1954)

Max Jacob at Saint Benoit 243(1)

Louise Erdrich (B. 1955)

Fooling God 244(2)

Aliki Barnstone (B. 1956)

Blue 246(1)

Bathing Jesus 247(1)

Lucie Brock-Broido (B. 1956)

Of the Finished World 248(1)

The One Thousand Days 249(1)

Physicism 250(1)

Unforgettable, for All My Uncertainty... 251(1)

Soul Keeping Company 251(2)
Notes on the Poets 253(26)
Credits 279