Love Belongs to Those Who Do the Feeling

Judy Grahn herself selected the poems for her collection Love Belongs to Those Who Do the Feeling: New & Selected Poems (1966-2006), making for a personalized retrospective of her career so far.  She introduces each section with personal, philosophical, and historical context, which informs the reading experience. 

Grahn, who wrote much of her work while involved with political movements in the 1960s to 1980s, writes her poetry with the intention of reading it aloud, and employs rhythm, repetition and sound to enrich that presentation. 

The poems are deeply reflective and deal with subject matter that ranges from themes of feminism, lesbianism, and working class experience to mythic interpretations of Helen of Troy and love.  Many are informed by Grahn’s considerable research on mythology, and employ imagery from those sources as well as the natural and industrial world.  Her poems question, rally, rage, inform, inspire and entertain. 

Whatever the subject matter and tone, each poem rings with its own vivid voice that engages the reader with its emotion, wit and heart.

–Renée