In this Book
- Hemisphere: Poems
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: Northwestern University Press
Winner, 2015 Seven Sisters Book Award for Poetry
The poems in Hemisphere explore what it means to be a daughter and what it means to bear new life. Ellen Hagan investigates the world historical hemispheres of a family legacy from around the globe and moves down to the most intimate hemisphere of impending motherhood. Her poems reclaim the female body from the violence, both literal and literary, done to it over the years. Hagan acknowledges the changing body of a mother from the strains of birth—from the growing body of a child, to the scars left most visibly by a C-section—as well as the changes wrought by age and, too often, abuse. The existence of a hemisphere implies a part seeking a whole, and as a collection, Hemisphere is a coherent and cogent journey toward reclamation and wholeness.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-viii
- I. Naming
- Lessons on Spelling
- pp. 5-6
- What It Takes
- p. 7
- To Be Alone
- pp. 8-9
- Kentucky––You Be
- pp. 12-13
- Mint Julep
- pp. 15-16
- Notes from Aziz Bazaz
- pp. 17-18
- River. Woman.
- pp. 19-20
- What We Do
- pp. 22-24
- II. Inheritance
- Body Parts––Then
- p. 27
- How to Survive High School
- pp. 28-29
- Reckless, Measured
- p. 31
- Words You Say
- pp. 33-34
- She Had a Face
- pp. 37-38
- New York City––Come On
- pp. 39-40
- Taking a Part
- pp. 46-50
- 24 weeks––16 to go
- p. 51
- 25 weeks––15 to go
- p. 52
- 26 weeks––14 to go
- p. 54
- 27 weeks––13 to go
- pp. 55-56
- III. Conception/Concept
- Things You Are
- p. 59
- Water Sign
- p. 60
- Upriver Is Spirit
- pp. 61-62
- Before Your Arrival
- pp. 63-64
- Final Inspection
- p. 65
- Awaiting the Storm
- pp. 73-74
- Hurricane, October 31, 2012
- pp. 75-76
- Foot or Fist
- pp. 84-85
- Holy, Holy
- p. 86
Additional Information
Copyright
2015