Words of bravery, beauty, witness and hope

Celebrating my favourite women poets on International Women's Day

For so many of us, poetry is how we share our hearts, and when we read the words of other poets, we come to understand the world in new ways, see that we are not alone, deepen our awareness of beauty, and forge connections across time and space. For International Women’s Day this year I want to use this space to highlight some of my favourite women poets from around the world and back through time, whose words have taught me so much about courage, wonder, joy, suffering, and the complicated beauty of this fragile world. I hope that you will find some old friends among them, and discover some new ones.

Please note these are nearly all fragments of longer poems. Please do follow the links beneath each fragment to find the full poem and discover more of each poet’s work. Why not restack your favourite poetry fragment shared here, to amplify these voices?

JANE HIRSHFIELD

Chance darkened me / as a morning darkens, / preparing to rain. - Jane Hirshfield

-  From Chance Darkened Me by Jane Hirshfield in Ledger by Jane Hirshfield (Bloodaxe) p.30

NOOR UNNAHAR

This unstitched loneliness keeps bleeding out of my hands. I was already ready to be someone else. - Noor Unnahar

- From A Personal Tragedy by Noor Unnahar in New Names for Lost Things (Andrews McMeel) p.11

RUPI KAUR

the universe took its time on you / crafted you to offer the world / something different from everyone else - Rupi Kaur

- From Irreplaceable by Rupi Kaur in The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur (Simon & Schuster) p.197

NIKITA GILL

And I wonder / how many of us are still / carrying our love / as fossils in our hearts? -

Nikita Gill

- From Fossilised Love by Nikita Gill in Wild Embers: Poems of Rebellion, Fire and Beauty by Nikita Gill (Trapeze) p.118

LOBAT VALA

I wait / in a dream’s quiet solitude, / broken winged, my soul grown faint, / on the black screen of my fearful mind I paint / the colour of light - Lobat Vala

- From Footprint by Lobat Vala in The Mirror of my Heart: A Thousand Years of Persian Poetry by Women (Penguin Classics) p.174

VICTORIA ERICKSON

I see you standing there / with a mouthful of poetry  / yet a head full of doubt.  / You are sharp yet softening / while needing to be split open / and poured out. / So let go. - Victoria Erickson

- From an Untitled poem by Victoria Erickson in Edge of Wonder: Notes from the Wildness of Being by Victoria Erickson (Enrealment Press) p.7

ELENA BROWER

Sitting still I can hear primordial ache / resolving through my being / wind in this / empty house -

Elena Brower

- From Empty House by Elena Brower in Softening Time by Elena Brower

MAYA ANGELOU

I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me. - Maya Angelou

- From Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou in The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-true Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul edited by William Sieghart (Particular Books) p.57

ALEX KLINGENBERG

I am wildfire and honeycomb, / burning trees and dripping sweetness. - Alex Klingenberg

- From Wildfire by Alex Klingenberg in Secrets & Stars (self-published) p.109

CHINE

It lights up  / as lightly as it fades: / a firefly. - Chine

- An untitled poem by Chine, in Japanese Death Poems edited by Yoel Hoffman (Tuttle) p.146

JOY HARJO

I leave you to your ceremony of grieving / Which is also of celebration / Given when an honored humble one / Leaves behind a trail of happiness / in the dark of human tribulation. - Joy Harjo

- From The Story Wheel by Joy Harjo in Poetry of Presence II edited by Phyllis Cole-Dai & Ruby R. Wilson (Grayson Books) p.145

ADA LIMÓN

How my own body, empty, / clean of secrets, knows how to carry her, / knows we were all meant for something. - Ada Limón

- From The Carrying by Ada Limón here on poets.org (The Academy of American Poets)

DANNA FAULDS

I am filled with quiet/  joy for no reason save/  the fact that I’m alive. - Danna Faulds

- From Joy for No Reason in One Soul by Danna Faulds (self-published) p.62

SHARON OLDS

I thought that he and I were in some sacred precinct – which does not exist, we were in the barn, the store, the bin, the pan, the bowl, the breath. - Sharon Olds

- From Something that Keeps by Sharon Olds in Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds (Cape Poetry) p.36

DONNA ASHWORTH

You’re so old / they say / and I laugh / with a deep roar / rising up from my very core / because how could that phrase / ever be anything / but magnificent? -

Donna Ashworth

- From So Old by Donna Ashworth in Life by Donna Ashworth (Black & White Publishing)

VICTORIA CHANG

Today is circling, history is transparent, the future has no insides. - Victoria Chang

- History by Victoria Chang in The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang (Copper Canyon Press) p.15

NAOMI SHIHAB NYE

Hope makes itself every day / springs up from the tiniest places / No one gives it to us / we just notice it / quiet in the small moment - Naomi Shihab Nye

- From Window by Naomi Shihab Nye in Everything Comes Next by Naomi Shihab Nye (Greenwillow) p.202

MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS

Here’s to embracing / the call of adventure. / Here’s to crossing the threshold / of what you’ve called home / of all you have ever known / in exchange / for tomorrow. - Morgan Harper Nichols

- From an Untitled poem by Morgan Harper Nichols in You Are Only Just Beginning by  Morgan Harper Nichols (Zondervan) p.10

I would also like to do a special shoutout to Ana Sampson who has edited some amazing anthologies of women poets. One of my favourites is She Is Fierce: Brave, bold and beautiful poems by women (Pan Macmillan).

Which women poets do you love? Please share in the comments, including any favourite anthologies, so we can discover more!

Beth Xx

PS If you missed it, I also wrote a short essay in celebration of World Book Day which you can read here, sharing some confessions from my life as a self-help author.

NEW BOOK NEWS!

My new book KOKORO: Japanese wisdom for a life well lived will be out on April 4. It is a meditation on impermanence, an uplifting guidebook for navigating change, and an invitation to make the most of our short, fragile and precious lives. I am offering a gift of a FREE place on my next seasonal writing sanctuary, Spring Light, to anyone who pre-orders Kokoro before publication on April 4. Details here. I hope you love it.