We Used To Be Wives
This is a highly illuminating anthology of poems by over seventy writers, all women, on the theme of divorce. The poems are deeply felt, and each voice, no matter the style of writing, speaks from individual experience. There are poems of fragility, introspection, rage, discovery, and even humor. Editor Jane Roth has done a splendid job of organizing the book into sections which take the reader through the divorce journey.
-- Small Press Review, Nov-Dec 2002
The roller coaster of divorce isn't easily organized, and a collection like this could have collapsed into scattered disarray. But Roth's able editing allows the book to achieve a poignant emotional timbre and a sensitive balance between the sophomoric and the overly intellectual. Whether it's humorous commentary--and there is some humor here--melancholy, anger or jubilation, the poetry in We Used To Be Wives transcends the trite and predictable and makes the first step of the journey to another place possible.
-- The Oklahoma Gazette, September, 2002
Odd as it sounds, it's a pleasure to read this extraordinary collection of poems about divorce. Like the best gossip, these gems are warm, personal, brutally honest, sometimes comic and imbued with a great deal of emotional intelligence. Even those of us who have never experienced divorce benefit here from the collective wisdom of those who have. These are the voices of rage, humiliation, and sorrow redeemed through art for heart-opening transformation. Brilliantly organized, We Used To Be Wives traverses the stages of love lost, grief endured, the self exquisitely regained.
-- Gail Donohue Storey, Author of The Lord's Motel and God's Country Club
The poems in this anthology astonish, not only because of content—failed marriage, divorce and its aftermath—but also because of consistent quality. There is no whining in these pages, no trite sentiment or blatant confession, only the haunting experiences of women poets seeking reasons with compassion, fighting back out of necessity, writing with ability and grace. Read this book. Then read it again. And again.
-- Jane Candia Coleman, Author of Desperate Acts
Page after page, We Used To Be Wives is a finely written tome of evocative and enlightening wisdom, its many voices representing the multifarious phases of separation and divorce. A magnificent chorus of harmonious poetry vocals ranging from sorrow to triumph and ultimate epiphany—yet every poem within is unique and speaks for itself.
-- The Editors of Pearl
Reading just one poem from We Used To Be Wives could help you find your way through the experience of divorce—the healing power of that single poem lasting months. And then, along divorce's winding road, another poem could be a companion, feed a different hunger, act as balm for another wound, put another puzzle piece in place, even the one that gives you more peace. This anthology can give your sorrow, rage and loss "a song." Jane Roth's intelligent and heartful anthology offers both women and men who know divorce, or who are considering it, courage and insight. Poetry is like that—writing and reading it is a way to speak about what matters, to discover who you are. [One contributor] Lyn Asch writes with profound simplicity about her divorce, "Now I know where the edges of my life are." What poetry reminds us is that the truth will set us free and this anthology is about speaking the truth.
-- John Fox, Author of Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making and Finding What You Didn't Lose: Expressing Your Truth and Creativity Through Poem-Making
In a harmonious blend of evocative language and sharp-eyed observation, poet-editor Jane Butkin Roth demonstrates her ease in writing to connect with readers. In addition to expressing her life in poetry, Roth's prose has appeared in numerous publications. She delves deeply by way of poetry into the significance of divorce to the female human condition. The stages of love, marriage, divorce and grief are carefully plotted, with Roth's watchful pen combining the work of more than seventy poets to produce this wonderful anthology. The reader can dip into its pages at random and be assured of finding a touching poem. We Used To Be Wives will stir your heart, your memory and your smiles. If you have loved and lost through divorce, and have not yet discovered your new path, here is the book with which to start your own personal journey. This collection is sure to be helpful to all women, be they wives, divorcees or singles, and to their therapists.
-- Linda Hutton, editor of Rhyme Time Poetry Journal
From the cry of one to the song of many, these women's voices join in a chorus of courage, strength, and inspiration. Thank you, Jane, for putting together a powerful and empowering book about a passage that affects half of all women.
-- June Cotner, Author of Mothers and Daughters and Animal Blessings
