Colleen J. McElroy's poetry shoots for the moon, and takes it in, too, in one way after another. The collection’s award-winning poems animate women’s experiences of sex, shopping, and dancing, while offering telling insight into the struggles and silver lining of lust, love, illness, and aging. Rich with vivid imagery and candid storytelling, Sleeping with the Moon takes readers on moonlit adventures under the night sky, through the barroom’s smoky haze, and under the covers....Beware: such delicatesights have driven more than one woman to despairinstead she watched him breathe-- relishingfor a moment that secret space where nightgrows soft and the moon’s detumescence forgives--and where if this jeweled light holds they mightstrip themselves of years if only for one night --from “In Praise of Older Women”

Sleeping with the Moon (Illinois Poetry Series)

Literature & Fiction

McElroy, Colleen J.

Poetry

University of Illinois Press

Colleen J. McElroy's poetry shoots for the moon, and takes it in, too, in one way after another. The collection’s award-winning poems animate women’s experiences of sex, shopping, and dancing, while offering telling insight into the struggles and silver lining of lust, love, illness, and aging. Rich with vivid imagery and candid storytelling, Sleeping with the Moon takes readers on moonlit adventures under the night sky, through the barroom’s smoky haze, and under the covers.
...Beware: such delicate
sights have driven more than one woman to despair
instead she watched him breathe-- relishing
for a moment that secret space where night
grows soft and the moon’s detumescence forgives--
and where if this jeweled light holds they might
strip themselves of years if only for one night 
--from “In Praise of Older Women”

Combining her talents as travel writer and poet, McElroy (English, U. of Washington) travelled to Madagascar to study the oral traditions. Her account weaves what she learned about the storytellers and stories with her own adventures in finding and recording them. She transcribes several of the tales and poems, and includes many photographs, 16 in color, but no bibliography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Univ of Washington Pr

Gifted travel writer, poet, professor of English, and insightful observer of human nature, Colleen McElroy journeyed to Madagascar to undertake a Fulbright research project exploring Malagasy oral traditions and myths. In Over the Lip of the World she depicts with equal verve the various storytelling traditions of the island and her own adventures in trying to find and record them. McElroy’s tale of an African American woman’s travels among the people of Madagascar is told with wit, insight, and humor. Throughout it she interweaves English translations of Malagasy stories of heroism and morality, royalty and commoners, love and revenge, and the magic of tricksters and shapechangers.

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

University of Washington Press

Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar (Samuel and Althea Stroum Books xx)

Bone Flames: Poems (Wesleyan Poetry Series)

Wesleyan University Press

Includes previously published poems as well as new selections

What Madness Brought Me Here: New and Selected Poems, 1968–1988 (Wesleyan Poetry Series)

A collection of new and old poems that explore the relationship between language and the self.

Poems depict the experiences of the author and explore themes such as femininity, motherhood, and Black American culture

Queen of the Ebony Isles (Wesleyan Poetry Series)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McElroy, Colleen J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by McElroy, Colleen J.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McElroy, Colleen J.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Sleeping with the Moon (Illinois Poetry Series)

Sleeping with the Moon (Illinois Poetry Series)

Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar

Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar

Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar (Samuel and Althea Stroum Books xx)

Bone Flames: Poems (Wesleyan Poetry Series)

What Madness Brought Me Here: New and Selected Poems, 1968–1988 (Wesleyan Poetry Series)

Bone Flames: Poems (Wesleyan Poetry Series)

What Madness Brought Me Here: New and Selected Poems, 1968–1988 (Wesleyan Poetry Series)

Queen of the Ebony Isles (Wesleyan Poetry Series)