Women Born During Tornadoes

Im struck by this new collection of Joanne Seltzers poems . . . their toughness the clarity of language the sparse precision of imagery the lack of sentimentality despite the authors ability to empathize so widely and so well. Its a book that truly lives up to its title as it swirls its readers along with one memorable moment after another one strong woman after another. Joseph Bruchac Native American writer storyteller Editor of The Greenfield Review Press In her new book Joanne Seltzer takes a long studied look at the defects in society geography humans and herself. From the alopecia she inherits from her grandmother to global warming she expresses herself in the voice of the everyday woman yet one who sees beyond. Elaine Starkman author of Learning to Sit in the Silence: Journal of Caretaking Women Born During Tornadoes is a book about essential relationships of exploring the deepest emotional bonds which are often filled with tumult and torment. Seltzers voice is a deep and assured one deftly handling the complexity of our inner lives. Whether she is writing of the diverse nature of womens roles of the artists relationship with nature or of the man/woman dynamic as she so forcefully does in the anti-marriage/marriage poems her poems touch us with their vitality. Alan Catlin author of Drunk and Disorderly (Selected Poems) Pavement Saw Press These are crafted accounts of women and their objects their places and their times-poems that tremble with seriousness and authenticity. Marion Deutsche Cohen poet mathematician teacher author of Crossing the Equal Sign