The Little Space

In this selection of poems from thirty years of a distinguished writing career, we see the growth of a poet's mind, heart, and spirit as Ostriker struggles to love "this wounded / World that we cannot heal, that is our bride". Whether she probes the meaning of childhood, family, marriage, and motherhood, or art, history politics, and God: whether she is celebrating sexuality or confronting mortality, the poet includes "whatever I can grasp of human experience within my art -- the good and beautiful, the evil and chaotic. I tell my students that they must write what they are afraid to write; and I attempt to do so myself".