search close
picture

What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems, 1975-2014

26 April 2024
Poetry. Jewish Studies. Women's Studies. LGBT Studies. "Elana Dykewomon's poems are reminders not to take anything for granted: to listen to the messages embedded in others' silences, to look beneath the rubble of violence, and to value the pleasures of intimate loving. Presenting the poetry written over the past four decades, What Can I Ask is wise, passionate, and inspirational. I so value this work and always keep it close to my heart."—Irena Klepfisz, Author of A Few Words in the Mother Tongue

Elana Dykewomon's poetry bears witness to the lives of lesbians. She asks and demands that we be responsible and responsive to one another; that we bring care, compassion, accountability, and love in the proper proportions. These are poems that help us understand the contours of sexism, homophobia, racism, and anti- Semitism. And they are poems that illuminate what we can ask from and offer one another.

Drawing on Dykewomon's impressive body of poetry, WHAT CAN I ASK: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS assembles into a single volume poems from Dykewomon's three published collections, They Will Know Me By My Teeth (Megaera Press, 1976), Fragments from Lesbos (Diaspora Distribution, 1981), and Nothing Will Be As Sweet as the Taste (Onlywomen Press, 1995), as well as a selection of newer, uncollected poems. Dykewomon continues asking questions and reaching for answers, demonstrating the power of poetry to comfort and enrage, inspire and arouse.
Other Books

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou

"Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" is a 1969 autobiography describing the early years of American...

Gatvla

Tamta Melashvili

Unfortunately this article is not available in English, please refer to Georgian version of th...

Go Set a Watchman

Harper Lee

Twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch—“Scout”—returns home to Maycomb, Alabama from New York Ci...

Terminology