Women Born During Tornadoes

I'm struck by this new collection of Joanne Seltzer's poems . . . their toughness, the clarity of language, the sparse precision of imagery, the lack of sentimentality despite the authors' ability to empathize so widely and so well. It's a book that truly lives up to its title as it swirls its readers along with one memorable moment after another, one strong woman after another. Joseph Bruchac, Native American writer, storyteller, Editor of The Greenfield Review Press In her new book, Joanne Seltzer takes a long, studied look at the defects in society, geography, humans and herself. From the alopecia she inherits from her grandmother to global warming she expresses herself in the voice of the everyday woman yet one who sees beyond. Elaine Starkman, author of Learning to Sit in the Silence: Journal of Caretaking "Women Born During Tornadoes" is a book about essential relationships, of exploring the deepest emotional bonds which are often filled with tumult and torment. Seltzer's voice is a deep and assured one deftly handling the complexity of our inner lives. Whether she is writing of the diverse nature of women's roles, of the artist's relationship with nature or of the man/woman dynamic, as she so forcefully does in the 'anti-marriage/marriage' poems, her poems touch us with their vitality. Alan Catlin, author of Drunk and Disorderly (Selected Poems), Pavement Saw Press These are crafted accounts of women and their objects, their places and their times-poems that tremble with seriousness and authenticity. Marion Deutsche Cohen, poet, mathematician, teacher, author of Crossing the Equal Sign