ADRIENNE RICHS POETRY AND PROSE

IN BOTH POETRY AND PROSE, THE EDITORS HAVE CHOSEN SELECTIONS INTENDED TO GIVE READERS A CLEAR SENSE OF RICH'S EVOLUTION AND ACCOMPLISHMENT. MANY OF THE POEMS IN THIS EXPANDED COLLECTION ARE FROM RICH'S FIVE RECENT VOLUMES THE DREAM OF A COMMON LANGUAGE (1978), A WILD PATIENCE HAS TAKEN ME THIS FAR (1981), YOUR NATIVE LAND, YOUR LIFE (1986), TIME'S POWER POEMS 1985-1988 (1989), AND AN ATLAS OF THE DIFFICULT WORLD (1991). PROSE SELECTIONS INCLUDE "WHEN WE DEAD AWAKEN WRITING AS RE-VISION," RICH'S CANONICAL STATEMENT ON FEMINISM; "COMPULSORY HETEROSEXUALITY AND LESBIAN EXISTENCE," ON BEING A LESBIAN IN A HETEROSEXUAL WORLD; RICH'S INTERVIEW FOR AMERICAN POETRY REVIEW, WHICH PRESENTS A FULL AND FRANK DISCUSSION OF HER WORK; AND HER PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED COMMENTARY ON THE GENESIS OF THE POEM "YOM KIPPUR 1984." THE EDITORS HAVE ALSO TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT THE MANY ESSAYS ON RICH AND REVIEWS OF HER WORK THAT HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED SINCE 1975. SOME EARLIER BIOGRAPHICAL SELECTIONS HAVE BEEN REPLACE