Award-Winner in the Fiction: Anthologies category of The 2013 USA Best Book Awards, sponsored by USA Book News
A collection of contemporary prose and poetry by women writers from New York’s Hudson Valley.
This volume celebrates the contemporary prose and poetry of more than a hundred women from New York’s Hudson Valley. Drawing on writers from the eastern border of New York State to the foothills of the Catskills, and along the length of the Hudson River from Westchester to Albany, editors Laurence Carr and Jan Zlotnik Schmidt bring together a wide variety of female voices that evocatively address issues that touch not only women, but also every reader who desires insight into the human experience.
A Slant of Light is divided into five sections, each addressing a theme of women’s lives. The book begins with “Mythos”: representations and revisions of myths of women. The second section, “Body and Gender,” explores visions of the body, gender socialization, and women’s roles. The third section, “Identity,” presents works that examine both how women see themselves and how others see them. The fourth section brings together works presenting women in a variety of roles, such as parent, child, partner, and lover. The last, “Woman in the World,” collects works that meditate on our collective fate in a global world.
What distinguishes this volume is the diversity of women’s perspectives in terms of age, ethnicity, cultural background, and subject matter. The book brings together voices both lyrical and edgy, and challenges readers to think deeply about our changing lives in the twenty-first century.
“Carr and Schmidt’s generous anthology offers an astonishing diversity of female voices.” — Chronogram
Laurence Carr teaches creative and dramatic writing at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He is the author of Pancake Hollow Primer: A Hudson Valley Story and The Wytheport Tales, the coeditor (with Joann Deiudicibus, Penny Freel, and Rachel Rigolino) of WaterWrites: A Hudson River Anthology in Celebration of the Hudson 400, and the editor of Riverine: An Anthology of Hudson Valley Writers, all published by Codhill Press. A SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor at New Paltz, Jan Zlotnik Schmidt teaches courses in composition, autobiography, creative writing, American literature, women’s literature, and Holocaust studies. Her books include two volumes of poetry, We Speak in Tongues and She Had This Memory. She is the editor of Women/Writing/Teaching, also published by SUNY Press, and the coauthor (with Carley Rees Bogarad and Lynne Crockett) of Legacies: Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction.
Distributed for Codhill Press
Table of Contents
Introduction
Mythos
Wind Innuedno Margo Stever
reviving Coyote Claire Hero
Islanded Jo Pitkin
Helen Sylvia Barnard
Penelope Joan I. Siegel
Hypatia Barbara Louise Ungar
Andromeda at Midlife Ann Cefola
An Explanation to My Husband
for Christa McAuliffe Lisa Fleck Dondiego
Madonna Bomb Celia Bland
Virgin of Guadeloupe Nadine May Lewis
The Angelus, As Mary Heard It Rhoda Shary
Angel Kappa Waugh
The Voice Laura Russo
Who Is My Muse? Lee Gould
Green Tara As Protector
From The Eight Fears Janet Hamill
Edie’s Mikveh Edie Abrams
Wet Exit Sarah Wyman
Identity
Bird of Paradise Suzanne Cleary
Letters from Riverside
A Slant of Light Carole Bell Ford
Coming Home to Hallelujah Carol Yuen Bean
Self-Acceptance: A Hard-Fought Battle Nava Atlas
Saturday Morning: Meditations on the Soup Karen Michel
Three Haikus Priscilla Lignori
Interpretation: Three Versions Mimi Moriarty
Thieves, An Oral Nightmare Roberta Gould
A Meager Diet of Horizon Natalie Safir
Laid Off Summer Carol Graser
I Check Their Leaves, I Water Their Roots Phyllis R. Freeman
“Misuse Can Result in Fire or Death by Electrical Shock” Alison Koffler
The Susan Situation Lynne Crockett
Waking at Night Amelia B. Winkler
What I Save Catharine Clarke
Duck Pond in Tuckahoe Adrienne Hernadez
Grace Rachael Z. Ikins
Egypt Beach, Massachusetts Pauline Uchmanowicz
Untitle Photo Morgan Gwenwalk
Gender and the Body
Hudson, NY—1960 Tana Miller
Thirteen Alyssa Fane
Devil’s Paintbrush Mountain Georganna Millman
The Apples of Discord Carol Goodman
The Mice, The Barn, and The Red Scare Abigail Nadell Robin
Nothing Is Cool Maryann Hotvedt
Smoking Gun Mala Hoffman
Embodied Carolyn Quimby
Trey Attaching Sensation to the Figure in Memory Karen Neuberg
In in the Women’s Locker Room Bliumis-Dunn
Waiting Room for a Mammogram Alice Feeley
Naming the Scar Judith Prest
Mentally Awaiting Menopause Teresa Marta Costa
What You Will Believe Irene O’Garden
Dead Shot for Venus Ramsey, Miss America 1944 Barbara Adams
Pull
Penny Freel
Seminole Hard Rock Sari Grandstaff
the woman who buys her own diamonds Judith Kerman
Housewife Sheds Her Skin Like a Snake Judith Saunders
Portrait of a Woman with Windex Ann Lauinger
Change Color Marion Menna
A Wife for the Twenty-First Century (Newly Defined) Raphael Kosek
Days of Our Breakfast Brittany Ambrosio
Downfall Sandra Sturtz Hauss
Waiting at the Ritz Jo Salas
On Some Days Her Monotonous Life Was Made Confusing and Frightening by Her Thoughts Karen Schoemer
Zelda Speaks Victoria Sullivan
Beauty, Money, Luck, Etc for Beginners Anne Gorrick
Relationships
Lost Gardens Karen Rippenstein
Red Flowers Dinah Dietrich
My Mother Wants Lambchops, Steaks, Lobster, Roast Beef Lyn Lifshin
Back to School Kate Hymes
Navigating with Mother Laura Jan Shore
My Father and the Floating House: at An Exhibition of Chagall’s Paintings at the Thyssen Bornamisza Jan Zlotnik Schmidt
My Father, 1928 Mary Makofske
How to Put a Fish to Bed Rebecca Schumejda
Blue Baby Colleen Geraghty
When Granny Made My Lunch Bobbi Katz
Birthmark Joann Deiudicibus
Geechee Daughter Brenda Connor-Bey
Wednesdays with Miss Wolfstein Gretchen Primack
A Reminiscence Based on Photos in Different Places in Deference to James Agee and Walker Evans Mary Fakler
Learning to Read Rachel Rigolino
On the Nature of Desire Donna Spector
The Fifty-Pound Canary Betty Anny Enos neé Damms
The Clay Goose Anne Richey
Modern Love: Till Death Do Us Part Eva Tenuto
Sahara Affair Allison B. Friedman
To the Unnamed One Lorna Tychostup
The Arm Iris Litt
TheBurial—Sarah, an excerpt “Union” Jacqueline Renee Ahl
Tom’s Funeral Cheryl Rice
An Uneventful Life Linda Melick
Ilse’s Sleep Nancy Willard
Drylands Claire McGuire
I Said Coffee Sharmagne Leland-St. John
Valentine Josepha Gutelius
By All In Me That Curdled Not in Acid Times Christine Boyka Kluge
Self in the World
So Much World Ledlie LaChance
Paper Thin Marilyn Reynolds
Returning to Earth (or Rediscovering Neruda) Susan Jefts
