I Am Becoming the Woman I'Ve Wanted

by Martz, Sandra

• ISBN13: 9780918949509
• ISBN10: 0918949505
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-01-01
• Publisher: Papier-Mache Press

Summary

I Am Becoming the Woman I've Wanted, the latest in the series of best-selling anthologies (When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple and If I Had My Life to Live Over I would Pick More Daisies), delves into the sometimes hidden and always powerful feelings that women have about their bodies. In the emotionally evocative style that characterizes Martz's previous collections, this book explores coming of age, sexuality, child-birth, physical power, menopause, aging, and much more. This is more than just another book about body image. Using her talent for bringing together extraordinary stories, poems, and photographs about women's lives, editor Sandra Martz explores the broader question of how the physical aspects of being female affect women's experiences. This best-selling anthology will have women reading and thinking and sharing for a long time.

Author Biography

Sandra Kay Martz founded Papier-Mache Press in 1984. Papier-Mache Press was known for publishing accessible books which presented important social issues through enduring works of beauty, grace, and strength, and created a bridge of understanding between the mainstream audience and those who might not otherwise be heard. As an editor and publisher, she has compiled several successful Papier-Mache Press anthologies including If I Had My Life to Live Over I Would Pick More Daisies, and I Am Becoming the Woman I've Wanted, a book that explores the powerful feelings women have about their bodies.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Finding Her Here	p. 1
History of the Body	p. 2
Applewood	p. 5
Room to Love	p. 7
Fourteen	p. 10
Foot Loose	p. 12
Ceremony	p. 15
Butchering Time	p. 16
Womansong	p. 20
A Place to Rest	p. 21
Everything That Falls Has Wings	p. 23
The Fat Lady Speaks	p. 33
Rhonda, from the Runway at Diamond Don's	p. 34
Shadow Brush	p. 39
Matchmaking	p. 40
Response to a Reading	p. 46
What I Know from Noses	p. 48
The Makeup Poem	p. 53
Ode to Grey Hair	p. 55
Shell Life	p. 61
La Maja Desnuda	p. 62
Living the Green Life	p. 63
The Spearthrower	p. 64
The Marathon	p. 66
Back into This Body	p. 79
Return to Campus	p. 81
Crossing the High Country	p. 82
To My Body	p. 89
Premenstrual Syndrome	p. 90
Spa	p. 93
The Women's Side	p. 95
Figure Problems	p. 97
Belly	p. 99
Contemplating a Breast Enhancement Operation	p. 101
Stretch Marks	p. 102
Seeing the Earth from the Moon	p. 104
Breastfeeding at Night	p. 109
Forever	p. 110
Tapping a Stone	p. 112
Before Stillbirth	p. 113
After Hysterectomy	p. 114
The Woman Whose Body Is Not Her Own	p. 115
Gathering Morning Fire	p. 117
Her Hair	p. 118
Joan Has Her Ears Pierced	p. 130
Hearing	p. 131
To My Eyes	p. 132
Menopause Poem	p. 134
This	p. 135
After Reading Mark Strand's "Courtship"	p. 137
Better Than Sex	p. 138
To Women Who Sleep Alone	p. 139
The Pier	p. 142
To Be Able	p. 155
For S	p. 156
Examining the Heat Exchange over a Mug of Tea	p. 157
The Naked Truth	p. 159
Plastic Surgery	p. 160
The Nest	p. 161
This Insane Notion, She Says	p. 166
Take My Body	p. 168
Crone Drives through Spring	p. 170
Combustion	p. 171
Osteoporosis	p. 173
Lucy	p. 175
Rehabilitation	p. 177
After Sixty	p. 185
Clay	p. 187
Spring Surge	p. 191
In Praise	p. 192
Volunteer Mourner	p. 195
The Present	p. 196
The Lovers at Eighty	p. 205
Blackberry Wine	p. 207
The Year Alice Moved to the Attic	p. 209
A Living Will	p. 216
If Death Were a Woman	p. 217
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.