Woman Prime

Poems

Gail C. DiMaggio

• Publisher: University of Alaska Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781602233423
• eBook ISBN: 9781602233430
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

A woman is a series of shifting possibilities. The frame that contained her in the morning can transform into something completely different by afternoon. The roles she's called on to play mutate over the years and throughout a lifetime. And her very place in the world is called into constant negotiation. In this swirl of contradictions, finding her own self—her core—can be a bewildering journey. Woman Prime is about the fundamental human wish to settle into an authentic self, a "prime" identity. It follows one woman through her roles—child, adult, wife, mother—and shows how she must remake herself through each new stage.
Like many women, the speaker believed that leaving her parent's home, falling in love, and raising children would reveal the essential core of herself. Instead, she learns that those she loves can fail her and that she must embrace a world full of flickering and conflicting expectations for women. Woman Prime is about every woman and no woman—a mutable voice that will still resonate with anyone trying to reconcile their flawed and complicated selves.

CONTENTS

1. Cover Page
2. Title Page
3. Copyright Page
4. Dedication
5. Contents
6. Defiance in Girls
7. Blood Relations
8. My Father Said He’d Teach Me
9. Foundation
10. Girls in Pictures
11. One Good Friday
12. Ring Song
13. Bewildered
14. Maybe They Will Drown Him
15. Cold Thursday
16. Frida’s Hair
17. My Father Said He’d Make a Knife
18. Night
19. You, Marilyn, Five Deep, Ten Across
20. Brother Wolf
21. Hide-and-Go-Seek
22. Empty Room with Mother and Daughter
23. Married Love. A Taxonomy
24. We Are Always Falling Forward
25. Soon Now
26. En Route, 1995
27. Cassandra and Me
28. Dean and Linda in a Car
29. Almost the Fourth, 1980
30. Wait for It
31. Light
32. What to Do in the Dark, I
33. I Stayed
34. Woman Prime
35. I Can Hear the Night Train
36. The Desert on Sunday
37. Nobody
38. Radius II
39. Like Flight
40. Panama Sailor Boy
41. To the Clock I Inherited When My Father Died
42. October Trespass
43. Lightning
44. Madame Butterfly III
45. Apology
46. We Argued about Saints
47. Air
48. The Wind Telephone
49. I Watch the Crowd
50. What to Do in the Dark, II
51. Old and Naked
52. The Sisters
53. What Will Be Left
54. Acknowledgments

Defiance in Girls

Blood Relations

My Father Said He’d Teach Me

Foundation

Girls in Pictures

One Good Friday

Ring Song

Bewildered

Maybe They Will Drown Him

Cold Thursday

Frida’s Hair

My Father Said He’d Make a Knife

Night

You, Marilyn, Five Deep, Ten Across

Brother Wolf

Hide-and-Go-Seek

Empty Room with Mo...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Defiance in Girls
• Blood Relations
• My Father Said He’d Teach Me
• Foundation
• Girls in Pictures
• One Good Friday
• Ring Song
• Bewildered
• Maybe They Will Drown Him
• Cold Thursday
• Frida’s Hair
• My Father Said He’d Make a Knife
• Night
• You, Marilyn, Five Deep, Ten Across
• Brother Wolf
• Hide-and-Go-Seek
• Empty Room with Mother and Daughter
• Married Love. A Taxonomy
• We Are Always Falling Forward
• Soon Now
• En Route, 1995
• Cassandra and Me
• Dean and Linda in a Car
• Almost the Fourth, 1980
• Wait for It
• Light
• What to Do in the Dark, I
• I Stayed
• Woman Prime
• I Can Hear the Night Train
• The Desert on Sunday
• Nobody
• Radius II
• Like Flight
• Panama Sailor Boy
• To the Clock I Inherited When My Father Died
• October Trespass
• Lightning
• Madame Butterfly III
• Apology
• We Argued about Saints
• Air
• The Wind Telephone
• I Watch the Crowd
• What to Do in the Dark, II
• Old and Naked
• The Sisters
• What Will Be Left
• Acknowledgments