Poetry has always provided comfort, inspiration, and connection, especially during socially precarious and politically divisive times. That has never been truer than it is today. The Wild Edge of the Heart: Women Poets Raise Their Voices presents the work of some of our leading contemporary female poets who are lauded for their ferocity, sensitivity and eloquence.

With a foreword by iconic theater artist Anne Bogart, this diverse and distinct array of voices includes Francesca Bell, Michelle Bitting, Joshua Jennifer Espinoza, Alexis Rhone Fancher, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Tanya Ko Hong, Armine Iknadossian, Sue Ellen Kuzma, Danusha Lameris, Kitty O’Meara, Mirabai Starr and Nancy Lynée Woo. Uniting these award-winning poets is the daring of their expression: they are fearless, unapologetically outspoken and insistent on being heard.

The poems chosen for this collection depict personal narratives, outcries, revelations, tender fleeting moments, declarations of sovereignty, and the mythic imagination: from a stark, visceral portrayal of the Black body’s agonizing experience of terror, trauma and loss, to the intensely erotic on display, to grieving the intimacy of touch in the height of pandemic-isolation, and the longing for ecstasy even in the darkest of times. The poems invite us into multi-sensory worlds in which Joan of Arc speaks to the sea, a father struggles to see his young transgender daughter for who she is, and a mother communes with her deceased child to grant and seek forgiveness.

By shining a light on our shared human experience, The Wild Edge of The Heart: Women Poets Raise Their Voices reminds us of our innate beauty and interconnectedness.

Proceeds will be donated to the NIRH to support women’s reproductive health.

Produced by Susan Lambert & Walker Vreeland.