Ravenous Words - by Susan J Wurtzburg & Lisa Lucas (Paperback)

About the Book

"In these tumultuous times, poetry bridges borders, creates connections, and imparts ideas. Writers Lisa Lucas and Susan J. Wurtzburg whispered words and shouted stanzas to each other by text and voice across the geographical expanses of Canada, the USA, and the Pacific Ocean. Their collaboration was adorned later by paired ravens, the cover print created by James Lahey, a noted Canadian artist, living in Toronto. This raven motif glides through the book sections and their poetry, with connections to the idea of being ravenous, insatiable, and greedy, all of which contrast to the socially-normed perceptions of women."--

Book Synopsis

In these tumultuous times, poetry bridges borders, creates connections, and imparts ideas. Writers Lisa Lucas and Susan J. Wurtzburg whispered words and shouted stanzas to each other by text and voice across the geographical expanses of Canada, the USA, and the Pacific Ocean. Their collaboration was adorned later by paired ravens, the cover print created by James Lahey, a noted Canadian artist, living in Toronto.

This raven motif glides through the book sections and their poetry, with connections to the idea of being ravenous, insatiable, and greedy, all of which contrast to the socially-normed perceptions of women. It also links to the long history of strong female writers, hungry for expression, who were largely disparaged and outcast from less contemporaneous poetry histories. Here, the title and poetic content connect these tropes in innovative ways that speak to people in the Americas and Pacific, where most of these works are situated.

Review Quotes

"'But let's be real, ' the poet wrote. And indeed these are poems that tell the truth and are nothing if not real. Ravenous Words, a courageous collaboration of poetic worlds, are Sue's memories and Lisa's portraits, Sue's defiance and Lisa's unsentimental observations. Listening to their poems converse among themselves, through the synergy of their nightmares and daydreams juxtaposed and woven together, we hear, among the voices of spirit animals and endangered seals, of silent monks and plucky travelers, the words of 'girls who know how to fight.'"

-Janet N. Gold, Professor Emerita, Languages,

Literatures and Cultures, University of New Hampshire

"Follow the currents of this shared conversation between two very different poets and come away with a unique sense of what it means to collaborate. These often hard-earned poems of experience-deeply female, familial, environmental, and lyrical-bring their themes to shore in one urgent song, a kind of pact in verse that commands our attention."

-Kate Sontag, co-editor of After Confession:

Poetry as Autobiography, (Graywolf)

"With ravenous passions spanning personal and family history, geography, nature, food, and current events (addressing a range of issues including the pandemic, racism, migrant workers, and sexual assault), poets Wurtzburg and Lucas have imparted to their readers a 'quilted heritage' of experience and image in which 'the world folds, like a handkerchief, and we balance on its crease.'"

-Pamela Wax, author of

Walking the Labyrinth (Main Street Rag, 2022)

and Starter Mothers (Finishing Line Press, 2023)