Hanging On Our Own Bones

Hanging On Our Own Bones

$18.95

Publication Date: 15th August 2017

In seven nine-part poems gathered from throughout her illustrious career, Lambda award winner Judy Grahn once again demonstrates her mastery of form. Using lamentations as her uniting medium, these transgressive poems seek to sound an alarm or name the unnamable, all in a movement towards the goal of possible social change. Read More
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In seven nine-part poems gathered from throughout her illustrious career, Lambda award winner Judy Grahn once again demonstrates her mastery of form. Using lamentations as her uniting medium, these transgressive poems seek to sound an alarm or name the unnamable, all in a movement towards the goal of possible social change. Read More
Description
Through these seven narrative poems, Grahn weaves real-life conditions with goddess mythology to construct modern interpretations of lamentation in nine parts. Song and poem lamentations have a widespread history from all over the globe and carry a wealth of forms and a few requirements—they must read well out loud, they must address current pressing issues, and they must make every attempt to be truthful. Here Grahn’s steadfast and rhythmic verse directs our eyes to crucial yet often buried tribulations of our times by critiquing white supremacy, honoring battered women, exalting the powers of menstruation, conflating all labor with birth imagery, and revealing lateral hostilities among potential allies—all in order to arouse a meaningful social critique.
Details
  • Price: $18.95
  • Pages: 184
  • Carton Quantity: 48
  • Publisher: Red Hen Press
  • Imprint: Arktoi Books
  • Publication Date: 15th August 2017
  • Trim Size: 6 x 9 in
  • ISBN: 9780989036139
  • Format: Paperback
  • BISACs:
    POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Family
    POETRY / American / General
    POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Death, Grief, Loss
    POETRY / Women Authors
    POETRY / LGBT
Reviews
“Skin, jail, butterfly, hospital, street, mother, father, blood, war: such words come alive as survivor, witness, and guide Judy Grahn uses the tried and true heart of the ballad to explore the socially unsaid and unsayable. Animated by the heroism and mythology of the everyday, and armed with attention and wisdom, she is a fierce warrior for the clarity of the human story.”—Ammiel Alcalay, author of neither wit nor gold







Hanging on Our Own Bones collects over forty years of what Judy Grahn calls her ‘nine-part poems,’ and here clearly identifies them as ‘lamentations.’ All the poets I know look upon Judy Grahn with admiration and awe, convinced that she’s leagues ahead of us, superhuman in her power and insight. But the poet of these chants of grief and frustration—and hope—is human for sure, torn by the same powerlessness and disgust at prevalent social conditions as the rest of us—it’s only that she has lightning at her command—a magic of writing that illuminates shreds darkness like confetti, and lets us see past the end of each page, past all our histories, a magic that lets us glimpse a previously unimagined future.”—Kevin Killian, author of Impossible Princess

Author Bio

Judy Grahn is a poet, writer, teacher, and cultural theorist; foremother of feminist, gay, and lesbian liberation movements and of the field of women’s spirituality. Earlier nonfiction books include Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words, Gay Worlds, and Blood, Bread, and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World. Her memoir is A Simple Revolution: The Making of an Activist Poet. Two collections of her poetry from Red Hen Press, and also The Judy Grahn Reader from Aunt Lute Books, are available. In 2000, she received her PhD from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she is Distinguished Associated Professor. In 1996, The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction was established by Publishing Triangle in New York; in 2016, the My Good Judy art and scholar residency was established in New Orleans. Grahn’s work has been anthologized in collections from W. W. Norton & Company, Penguin Books, Penngrove, and Oxford University Press, among many others. She has received several lifetime achievement and foremother awards and has been Grand Marshall of two Gay Pride Parades. The Commonality Institute promotes her work overall, while a Metaformia journal archive at www.metaformia.org, retains articles on her Metaformic Theory. Her love of creatures and spirit is lifetime. She lives with her spouse in Palo Alto, CA.

Through these seven narrative poems, Grahn weaves real-life conditions with goddess mythology to construct modern interpretations of lamentation in nine parts. Song and poem lamentations have a widespread history from all over the globe and carry a wealth of forms and a few requirements—they must read well out loud, they must address current pressing issues, and they must make every attempt to be truthful. Here Grahn’s steadfast and rhythmic verse directs our eyes to crucial yet often buried tribulations of our times by critiquing white supremacy, honoring battered women, exalting the powers of menstruation, conflating all labor with birth imagery, and revealing lateral hostilities among potential allies—all in order to arouse a meaningful social critique.
  • Price: $18.95
  • Pages: 184
  • Carton Quantity: 48
  • Publisher: Red Hen Press
  • Imprint: Arktoi Books
  • Publication Date: 15th August 2017
  • Trim Size: 6 x 9 in
  • ISBN: 9780989036139
  • Format: Paperback
  • BISACs:
    POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Family
    POETRY / American / General
    POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Death, Grief, Loss
    POETRY / Women Authors
    POETRY / LGBT
“Skin, jail, butterfly, hospital, street, mother, father, blood, war: such words come alive as survivor, witness, and guide Judy Grahn uses the tried and true heart of the ballad to explore the socially unsaid and unsayable. Animated by the heroism and mythology of the everyday, and armed with attention and wisdom, she is a fierce warrior for the clarity of the human story.”—Ammiel Alcalay, author of neither wit nor gold







Hanging on Our Own Bones collects over forty years of what Judy Grahn calls her ‘nine-part poems,’ and here clearly identifies them as ‘lamentations.’ All the poets I know look upon Judy Grahn with admiration and awe, convinced that she’s leagues ahead of us, superhuman in her power and insight. But the poet of these chants of grief and frustration—and hope—is human for sure, torn by the same powerlessness and disgust at prevalent social conditions as the rest of us—it’s only that she has lightning at her command—a magic of writing that illuminates shreds darkness like confetti, and lets us see past the end of each page, past all our histories, a magic that lets us glimpse a previously unimagined future.”—Kevin Killian, author of Impossible Princess

Judy Grahn is a poet, writer, teacher, and cultural theorist; foremother of feminist, gay, and lesbian liberation movements and of the field of women’s spirituality. Earlier nonfiction books include Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words, Gay Worlds, and Blood, Bread, and Roses: How Menstruation Created the World. Her memoir is A Simple Revolution: The Making of an Activist Poet. Two collections of her poetry from Red Hen Press, and also The Judy Grahn Reader from Aunt Lute Books, are available. In 2000, she received her PhD from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she is Distinguished Associated Professor. In 1996, The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction was established by Publishing Triangle in New York; in 2016, the My Good Judy art and scholar residency was established in New Orleans. Grahn’s work has been anthologized in collections from W. W. Norton & Company, Penguin Books, Penngrove, and Oxford University Press, among many others. She has received several lifetime achievement and foremother awards and has been Grand Marshall of two Gay Pride Parades. The Commonality Institute promotes her work overall, while a Metaformia journal archive at www.metaformia.org, retains articles on her Metaformic Theory. Her love of creatures and spirit is lifetime. She lives with her spouse in Palo Alto, CA.