I'm not sure how this particular poetry slid under the radar, but this is the first time I'm really reading her work, and I don't know why I hadn't up until now. Rukeyser is a deeply moving and solid poet, mixing emotion with blutness and reality. I like much of her work in this collection, and hope that I can read more in the near future.

I came to this book not knowing much about the poet, just an idea of the time when she lived but not what currents in American poetry she was associated with. The opy I had contained a short introduction by Natasha Trethewey mentioning the parallels between Rukeyser's time and our own, but did not really set the context, so all I can report on now is the impression each poem gave on its own. Without a chronology, a sense of what she was reading, what the reception to her work was, it was hard to gain a feeling for the nuances which I could tell were present.

Many of the poems comment on events taking place at the time they were composed, including some long pieces about Appalachian miner's labor demands coming from the diagnosis of silicosis in their lungs. I could see a sympathy for the powerless fighting against powerful opponents running through these, whether those adversaries were corporate or ideological. In another of these poems, 'Letters to the Front,' she brings up issues of identity during the second World War. She talks here about the action she feels needs to be taken, not the abstract reasoning behind the fighting. It seems to me that each one has a moral center which isn't too hard to locate. As to theme, other poems describe urban life ('City of Monuments'), reproductive issues ('The Speed of Darkness'), mythic images ('Private Life of the Sphinx,' 'Niobe,' 'Myth,' and 'Waiting for Icarus'), and the speaker's legacy after death ('What They Said') with great conviction. Here and there the language takes flight, but most of the time it is sober, plain-spoken, serious, never confessional. There are short poems and long ones, some of which are self-aware about the act of writing, others which are so down to earth they seem almost prosy.

I feel that this is a good collection to get acquainted with the work of a poet who doesn't get a lot of mention now. Her style and areas of concern are quite different from mine, but I think reading through these poems and working out how they fit in is probably a good exercise for anyone interested in writing.

I received this book in the form of an Advance Reader's Copy through Netgalley so that I could post a review of my impressions.

I feel so embarrassed I didn't know about Muriel Rukeyser before now. This collection of poems, some that read like journalism, is magical. Is poetic journalism a thing? It should be, I guess. That's what it feels like.

Rukeyser is inspiring because was was an independent, queer, Jewish woman writing with incredible conviction from the 1920s, 1930s, onward -- a woman who used her poetry to raise alarm bells and calls for action on injustices around the world. Her work is so, so powerful.

Rukeyser writes passionately about social justice, poverty, war, love, sex, family, being Jewish. Many of the poems had a journalistic feel (because she was a journalist!) where she would detail a contemporary historical event through court statements, interviews, documents, and the place where the events took place. Rukeyser has a keen eye for injustice, and advocated for marginalized people and communities through her work. Her work mercilessly supported communities that were being silenced (or killed) -- either by the state or by corporations for the sake of profit.

I highly recommend it and LOVED this collection. Go read Muriel Rukeyser!!! Now if only someone would publish a biography of her. Apparently many have tried and all have failed. I would eat that shit UP!

Thank you to #NetGalley and Ecco for sharing a copy of this book with me in exchange for an honest review.