Cover art by Candace Jahn

“This is nothing less than a full dramatic monologue with innuendo, philosophy, interior soliloquy. The spectrum of emotions ranges from dispassion, to passion, to acceptance, to inquiry, anddisbelief, and more. A lesser poet would have descended into pity but Ford will have none of that when, instead, she can build a home from a kingdom of words to live in and rule magnificently.”--Grace Cavalieri,

Washington Independent Review of Books

“A distinct and powerful voice in American poetry. . . . This is a complex, riveting, and heartbreaking book.”

—Jane Mead

“Ford’s impressive second book is an extended meditation on destruction and ruins in the wake of Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans. . . . These are poems worthy of their subject—which is saying a lot” (The Virginia Quarterly Review).

“One of the most powerful books of poetry this year” (Time Out New York).

This anthology of poetry collects 21st century American works by both established and emerging poets that deal with the public events, government policies, ecological and political threats, economic uncertainties, and large-scale violence that have largely defined the century to date.

This groundbreaking anthology offers a broad and representative introduction to some of the most exciting, fresh voices on the contemporary poetry landscape by gathering together generous selections from the work of 85 younger American poets.

Imagine being a young poet, nurturing your craft without the benefit of established mentors. Imagine having never been in a class taught by a woman poet or not having a bookshelf filled with books written by living women poets. Luckily, young women poets today don’t have to. Arielle Greenberg and Rachel Zucker’s Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections collects both personal essays and representative poems by women born after 1960 whose careers were influenced—directly or indirectly—by the women who preceded them.