Writing Fire
An Anthology Celebrating the Power of Women’s Words
by Jennifer Browdy, Jana Laiz, Sahra Bateson Brubeck, eds.
Writing Fire celebrates the power of women’s words with a wide-ranging exploration into the voices and visions of women of all ages, from many walks of life. From teens to seniors, from new mothers to great-grandmothers, this collection is brimming with the kinds of stories that have always been told around kitchen tables but have not always made their way into print.
Including fiction, poetry, personal narrative, essays and humor, Writing Fire offers an intimate window into the strengths, passions and perspectives of more than 75 inspiring and unforgettable women writers.
These honest, moving stories will spark thoughtful conversations about every stage of a woman’s life journey; from girlhood, relationships, marriage, divorce, illness and grieving, work, play and love.
A glorious feast of inspiring stories that will make you laugh and cry and want to grab your own pen and join the conversation!
Table of Contents
Introduction: Lighting the Sparks, The Editors
Prologue: Woman with a Stubborn Tongue, Lee Schwartz
Part One: Hearts Wide Open
Strange Fancies, Lara Tupper
Variations: Two Poems on Aging, Signe Eklund Schaefer
My Paradox in Port-au-Prince, Jennifer J. Holey
I Fucking Hate the Gender Binary, Eden Chubb
The Earth Is Our Mother, Wendy A. Rabinowitz
The Meadow, Mary-Ellen Beattie
Birthed in the Berkshires, Suzi Banks Baum
Misunderstood, Michele Gara
Winged Victory, Mary Kate Jordan
Blood and Gold, Deirdre McKenna
Fiona, Nellie, Lt. Cable and Me, Nancy Salz
Lenox Girls, Anne Harrison
The Edge of Elsewhere, Susie Kaufman
Einstein and Grace, Jan Hutchinson
Haiku, JoAnne Spies
Part Two: Questions for Our Mothers
Two Poems, Hilde Weisert
A Mother’s Touch, Donna Lefkowitz
Plum Jam, Anni Crofut
London Asks To Be Remembered, Lisken Van Pelt Dus
Butterflies Are Free, Joan Peronto
Cookies Like You’ve Never Tasted, Robin Zeamer
My Mother Died, Heidi Rothberg
How I (Finally) Met My Mother, Judith Nardacci
To My Mother, Barbara Barak
A Second Chance, A.M. Sommers
Mother’s Day, Barbara Newman
I’m Still Mom, Jana Laiz
I of the Beholder, Janet Reich Elsbach
Part Three: Looking for Love
Recipes from a Weekend of Love, Carolyn Fabricant
Aphrodite & Ares, Sahra Bateson Brubeck
Two Poems, Marie-Elizabeth Mali
A Constellation? Help Me Find the Big Dipper, Emma Flowers
The Whooper Swans, Lydia Littlefield
When All Else Fails, Audrey Kalman
Ribs (What’s Taken From You to Give to Me), Brianna Pope
Je t’adore, Teresa Gentile
The Rocky Road to Happiness, Lorin Krouss
Where Is Your Husband? Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe
Part Four: For the Love of Family
Breadcrumbs, Hope Fitzgerald
Kind Thoughts, Rosemary Starace
Of Royal Blood, Hester Velmans
Fading Into Love: For Audrey, Carol Fults
Roots, Stems and Branches: A Recollection, Linda Kaye-Moses
Seventeenth Summer, Susan Wozniak
What Do You Mean Ken’s Pants Zip Up the Front?, Ellen Bliss
Fudgsicles, Martha C. Beattie
Boys Don’t Cry, Lisken Van Pelt Dus
Sandbars, Jenny Laird
Part Five: Courage, Resilience and Strength: The Power of Women’s Voices and Visions
Searching for the Moon: Musings on Growing Up Female, Amber Chand
The Drowning Girls, Grace Rossman
Black Clues, Joan Embree
Be Fruitful, Heather C. Meehan
Surviving the Cold, Teresa Gentile
Hand Towels, Barbara Dean
Concerning Bella, Jayne Benjulian
The Girls’ Club, Ellen Meeropol
Second Opinion, Sondra Zeidenstein
The Story of Harriet Ferment, Sally-Jane Heit
Betty’s Brain, Jan Krause Greene
I Found I Had Neglected Thirst, Rosemary Starace
Four Poems, Ruth Sanabria
Three Poems, Raquel Partnoy
Aunt Nkoumou and the Panthers, Pauline Dongala
No One Knew, Maggie Katz
Goodnight, Casey Anne Hall
A Hard Story, Leigh Strimbeck
Why I Chant, Diane Kavanaugh-Black
An Unusually Warm November, Jana Laiz
When the Sky Fell, Yvette “Jamuna” Sirker
Solstice Dreams, Jennifer Browdy
Woman Wondering, Suzanne Fowle
LOVE? A prayer for us, Carmen Maria Mandley
Part Six: Strong Shoulders: The Loves and Labors of Women
The Labor I Didn’t Have, Beverly Pimsleur
Baptism by Fire, Adrian Dunn
What I Did Not Expect, When I Was Expecting, Suzi Banks Baum
Let Him Eat Cake, Camille Tewell
The Dawson College Shooting, Carolyn Van Der Meer
Machine, Cheryl Anne Latuner
Translating Pain into Colors and Words, Raquel Partnoy
Catechisms: Three Poems, Mary Kate Jordan
Boots, Barbara Newman
Smudges, Linda Kaye Moses
On My Way to Rehab, Lee Schwartz
Underground, Susie Kaufman
The Yoga of Aging and Dying, Mary Beth Ogulewicz
Four Poems, Elizabeth O’Rourke
My Edible Muse, Judith Berg
Laundry, Sharon Coleman
Working It Out, Hilde Weisert
Magnolia Justice, Jana Laiz
About the Editors
Jennifer Browdy
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D. is a Professor of Comparative Literature at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. She is the author of What I Forgot…and Why I Remembered, an environmental memoir, and The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, a writer’s guide. The editor of Women Writing Resistance, a collection of essays, stories and poetry by Latinx and Caribbean writers, as well as co-editor of the award-winning anthology African Women Writing Resistance, she founded the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers in 2011 and offers coaching, developmental editing and writing workshops and retreats on purposeful memoir. She blogs on social and environmental justice from a personal perspective at Transition Times.
Jana Laiz
Jana Laiz is the award-winning author of Weeping Under jana-laiz_portraitThis Same Moon, The Twelfth Stone, A Free Woman On God’s Earth, Elephants of the Tsunami, and Thomas & Autumn. She is the first Writer-In-Residence at Herman Melville’s Berkshire home, Arrowhead. She teaches writing workshops locally, nationally and internationally, including the 2014 San Miguel Writer’s Conference. Find her at janalaiz.com.
Sahra Bateson Brubeck
Sahra Bateson Brubeck earned her B.A. from Bard College at Simon’s Rock in 2014, majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in African American Studies. Her most recent creative work focuses mainly on the tradition of retelling and rewriting ancient myths. She strives to shed light on the convoluted histories and stories of ancient Greek Goddesses, often rearranging and repositioning the interpersonal dynamics that originally comprised the ancient myths, in an effort to add depth to the stories’ notions of power and femininity.