So here you go, seventy-six women poets who've all read at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. One poet, one poem, one photo, that's the recipe for this book. Poets were asked to send their Greatest Hit. (One poet wrote a wonderful Letter of Opposition about how you cannot reduce an oeuvre to a unit: I wish we had room to print it ) We look on this book as an introduction--a go-to starting point for the women who helped open the gates to the Academy of the Future of 21st Century Poetry. This is book so revolutionary and patterned by today's time, the editors decided to alphabetize the poets by first names because computers do it that way and who says that patronyms win all the time anyway? So who's your fave? Just remember to look for her by first name-- Alana Ruben Free Amy Ouzoonian Ana Castillo Ange Mlinko Ann Enzminger Anne Waldman Brenda Coultas Carla Harryman Celena Glenn Cheryl Boyce Taylor Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz Cynthia Kraman Daphne Gottlieb Dawn Saylor Deanna Zandt Diane Burns Donna Masini Elaine Equi Elinor Nauen Elizabeth-Jane Burnett Emily XYZ Fay Chiang Gabriella Santoro Hettie Jones Honor Moore Ishle Yi Park Jackie Sheeler Jan Heller Levi Janet Hamill Janice Erlbaum Janine Pommy Vega Jen Benka Jennifer Blowdryer Jessica Hagedorn Joy Harjo Kathryn M. Fazio Kim Rosenfield Kristin Prevallet Lee Ann Brown Leslie Scalapino Leticia Viloria liz maher Lynne N. Procope Maggie Balistreri Maggie Dubris Marie Howe Marie Ponsot Marjorie Tesser Martha Rhodes Marty McConnell Mary Reilly Maureen Owen May Joseph Melissa Goodrum Nancy Mercado Naomi Shihab Nye The O'Debra Twins Patricia Smith Patricia Spears Jones Rachel Levitsky Radhiyah Ayobami Regina Cabico Sapphire Sarah Herrington Sarah Quinter Seren Divine Shanna Compton Simone Gorrindo Suheir Hammad Tara Betts Tish Benson Tsaurah Litzky Vicki Hudspith Wanda Coleman Zhang Er "Bowery Women" is the third book in the Bowery Books Poetry series following Taylor Mead's "A Simple Country Girl" and "The Bowery Bartenders Big Book of Poems."