Let the girls forget the wooden painted
horses allowed in their dreams.
Let them learn to love more complicatedly
colored and breathing real animals of
barns and fields.
‘Daughters,’ I whisper,
‘be bad women; demand
to be more of yourselves
than anyone will willingly
want you to be.’
—from “For My Daughters”
These poems chronicle Susan Firer’s family history, full of poignancy, humor, and ultimate tragedy in a moving panorama of Midwestern life in a quieter time.
Susan Firer was born in Milwaukee and for the most part has lived, worked, and written her poetry within walking distance of Lake Michigan.
She is the author of three other collections of poetry. She has read her poems in universities, prisons, and bars and on public radio and TV.
