To Sing Along the Way

Book excerpt: The first historical and contemporary anthology of Minnesota women poets, this anthology is edited by three prize-winning poets. Poems included range from the earliest poetry in Minnesota--oral song-poems of Ojibwe women--through the sounds and rhythms of early-twentieth-century formalism and contemporary free verse. Arranged chronologically, these disparate poems are connected by the common thread of universal themes and reflect Minnesota's diversity of women's voices. Among the more than one hundred contributors are Harriet Bishop, Candace Black, Frances Densmore, Elaine Goodale Eastman, Mary Eastman, Louise Erdrich, Diane Glancy, and Patricia Hampl. Contributors' biographies and suggestions for further reading are included.