Sinister Wisdom 96 / What Can I Ask by Elana Dykewomon

What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014
By Elana Dykewomon

Elana Dykewomon’s poems are reminders not to take anything for granted: to listen to the messages embedded in others' silences, to look beneath the rubble of violence, and to value the pleasures of intimate loving. Presenting the poetry written over the past four decades, What Can I Ask is wise, passionate, and inspirational. I so value this work and always keep it close to my heart.”
--Irena Klepfisz, Author of A Few Words in the Mother Tongue

Elana Dykewomon’s poetry bears witness to the lives of lesbians. She asks and demands that we be responsible and responsive to one another; that we bring care, compassion, accountability, and love in the proper proportions. These are poems that help us understand the contours of sexism, homophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism. And they are poems that illuminate what we can ask from and offer one another.

Drawing on Dykewomon’s impressive body of poetry, What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems 1975-2015 assembles into a single volume poems from Dykewomon’s three published collections, They Will Know Me By My Teeth (Megaera Press, 1976), Fragments from Lesbos (Diaspora Distribution, 1981), and Nothing Will Be As Sweet as the Taste (Onlywomen Press, 1995), as well as a selection of newer, uncollected poems. Dykewomon continues asking questions and reaching for answers, demonstrating the power of poetry to comfort and enrage, inspire and arouse.

Behind the Issue: Sinister Wisdom 96 by Julie R. Enszer


(Sinister Wisdom 96 / What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems 1975-2015 published Spring 2015.)


Order Sinister Wisdom 96 / What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014 by Elana Dykewomon today or subscribe to Sinister Wisdom and receive a full year of the best lesbian literary and arts journal.

$18.95 for Dykewomon's What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014 + $3.60 postage & handling (in US only; mailing costs for outside of the US will be calculated and invoiced prior to shipment)





Sinister Wisdom ships all orders in the US via Media Mail, which is the least expensive way to ship books and has an estimated transit time of 10-14 days from the time the package is mailed.
Sinister Wisdom makes trips to the USPS two times each week.
Arrival time for your books could be 14-21 days, though often people report receiving our packages in 3-7 days from date of shipment.
If you have additional questions about shipping times, please inquire at sinisterwisdom@gmail.com

Sinister Wisdom 96: What Can I Ask by Elana Dykewomon is also available as an ebook. Order the ebook here.

More About Sinister Wisdom 96: What Can I Ask by Elana Dykewomon

Interview with Elana Dykewomon at Women and Words: http://womenwords.org/2015/04/17/interview-with-elana-dykewomon-plus-giv...
Review of Elana Dykewomon's What Can I Ask: New and Collected Poems 1975-2014 by Carolyn Gage: http://carolyngage.weebly.com/blog/elana-dykewomon-word
Review of Elana Dykewomon's What Can I Ask: New and Collected Poems 1975-2014 at Out in Print: https://outinprintblog.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/spring-poetry-roundup-ii/
Elana Dykewomon's What Can I Ask: New and Collected Poems 1975-2014 received an Honorable Mention at the San Francisco Book Festival.

Image: 

"Empowerment comes from ideas."

Gloria Anzaldúa

“And the metaphorical lenses we choose are crucial, having the power to magnify, create better focus, and correct our vision.”
― Charlene Carruthers

"Your silence will not protect you."

Audre Lorde

“It’s revolutionary to connect with love”
— Tourmaline

"Gender is the poetry each of us makes out of the language we are taught."

― Leslie Feinberg

“The problem with the use of language of Revolution without praxis is that it promises to change everything while keeping everything the same. “
— Leila Raven