Description
Poetry. Women's Studies. African American Studies. Native American Studies. With lyric and narrative language OCCOQUAN maps the lives of nineteenth century slaves and of women who championed the twentieth century struggle for the right to vote. The protagonists include incarcerated, hunger-striking suffragists, a sadistic workhouse warden, a bohemian journalists reporting on women of the Russian revolution, an anarchist who may become a saint, the brilliant suffragists Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. OCCOQUAN's compass enables us to journey through all these and back to the river's indomitable wilderness.
"I admire Gary Worth Moody's work for its long, haunting lines, for its connection to the historic record, for its humanity, and for its ambition. His connection to Black Mountain poets is present on the ranging fields of his pages and also his concerns with deep geography—here the remaining imprints of slavery and feminist struggles. This poet ignites words with fire. In reading Occoquan, I enter timeless conflagrations of events. This book is a live ember."—Denise Low, Kansas Poet Laureate 2007-09, author of MÉLANGE BLOCK
Author Bio
Gary Worth Moody was born in Texas and grew up on farms and ranches in Texas and New Mexico. He is a graduate of St. John's College, Santa Fe, New Mexico. He first learned of the suffragist struggles at the Occoquan Workhouse while studying in George Mason University's MFA program in Fairfax, Virginia. As a member of the Friends of Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre, he was instrumental in efforts to restore the historic village of Brentsville, Virginia where Agnes was tried and executed. His first poetry collection, HAZARDS OF GRACE, was published by Red Mountain Press in 2012. His poems have appeared in numerous journals on both sides of the Atlantic. Gary lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with the artist and writer Oriana Rodman, two dogs, and a red-tailed hawk.
Author City: SANTA FE, NM USA