It occurs to me that no one goes around discussing what John Milton and Ogden Nash have in common as male poets. The assumption is that there will be widely varying voices among men, and the wider, the better. I am hoping that as more and more women are widely read, people will start to see that there is just as wide a range among their voices. I don't think there are any limits to the range of subjects that women can write about, but because their experiences differ from men's in a few ways, women are more likely to write about some things than men are, and when their subjects overlap, women's viewpoints are often different. I think we are still in a time when women feel the need to break stereotypes about them (which are still very real). In time, we may have fewer stereotypes to battle, so there won't be a need to subvert them.
I love the range of voices I hear from women poets now, each one distinct and individual. I learn something from every good writer I read, male or female, but I often find that it is among contemporary women writers that I read of experiences and reactions that are closest to my own. To hear your own thoughts and experiences coming from someone else forms a powerful connection. I'd say that my own pleasure reading in poetry therefore leans about 60/40 in favor of women writers (despite or because of the fact that throughout my education the percentage was more like 90/10 in men's favor).
Susan
|