Taking root. The Singer sewing machine -- Growing up on British books -- Swift to its close -- The horses of childhood -- Homage to Polly Bunting -- Radcliffe in the forties -- Identity -- Poets and poetry. The revision of Emily D.: notes on 'After the poetry reading' -- On receiving the Frost medal -- Brief speech at the Poetry Society of America's laureates' dinner -- Celebrating Josephine Jacobsen, 1997 Frost medal winner -- Introduction to Carolyn Kizer: perspectives on her life and work -- Kiddielit with Anne Sexton -- Cats in Zanzibar -- Translations -- Audience -- Letter to a young writer -- Notes on 'Pantoum, with swan' -- The poet on the poem: contexts and connections -- Taking a stand: if this be treason, make the most of it -- Entry in poet's bookshelf -- On 'Four poems about Jamaica, ' by William Matthews -- Remembering Peter Davison -- On Jane Kenyon -- On Karl Jay Shapiro -- Carol Houck Smith, 1923-2008 -- Longfellow's antislavery poems -- Introduction to Perched on nothing's branch: selected poems, by Attila Jószef -- Foreword to Vive o muere, by Anne Sexton -- Foreword to The complete love poems of May Swenson -- Country living. Geese-go-south moon -- Breeding horses -- Foreword to Say this of horses -- Beautiful soup -- Spinach -- The wings of winter -- High ground -- Bear -- How we found our dog -- Settled in at home.
Summary
"Throughout her career, Pulitzer Prize - winning poet Maxine Kumin has been at the vanguard of discussions about feminism and sexism, the state of poetry, and our place in the natural world. "The Roots of Things" gathers into one volume her best essays on the issues that have been closest to her throughout her storied career." "Divided into sections on 'Taking Root', 'Poets and Poetry', and 'Country Living', these pieces reveal Kumin honing her views within a variety of forms, including speeches, critical essays, and introductions of other writers' work. Whether she is recollecting scenes from her childhood, ruminating on the ups and downs of what she calls 'pobiz' (for 'poetry business'), describing the battles she's fought on behalf of women, or illuminating the lives of animals, Kumin offers insight that can only be born of long and closely observed experience."--BOOK JACKET.
