Louder
We Can't Hear You (Yet!)
The Political Poems of Marge Piercy

An Audio CD "Greatest Hits"
of Political Poems from 
One of America's Best Known Activist Poets 

Louder - We Can't Hear You (Yet!)
The Political Poems of Marge Piercy on Audio CD
Poetry / CD
0-9728984-2-5
$15.95 (Your WebDirect price $11.16)
63 min. 24 sec.
(Click here to order from Amazon)

"Her poems are rough, direct, hairy, political,
tremendously energetic, visionary, vulnerable and real."
— Margaret Atwood , New York Times Book Review

In January, 2003, as President Bush was lobbying for an invasion of Iraq , First Lady Laura Bush invited Marge Piercy, along with some of the country’s best known poets, to a symposium at The White House. Many of those poets questioned a quiet afternoon of literary discussion that ignored a debate about the impending war, and were joined by 13,000 others throughout the nation, who wrote poems in protest. Marge Piercy wrote “Choices,” eventually included in the infamous Poets Against the War Anthology but which found its way at internet speed into the political consciousness of the nation as well as a new generation of activists. Long praised for the breadth of her subject matter, Piercy suddenly found her political poems—new poems about 9/11 and The Patriot Act as well as classics of deep social conviction—in demand at readings across the country. The debate was getting louder.  

“No other poet of this generation has more consistently identified herself with the political and social movements of her own times,” writes Margaret Atwood in the New York Times Book Review. Recited in speeches by Gloria Steinem and Howard Zinn, on the radio by Garrison Keillor, and in rallies from coast to coast; scribbled on walls and posted on e-mail, Piercy’s political poems have become anthems for social change. But to locate these poems, Piercy fans have had to hunt through eight different volumes.

Louder, We Can’t Hear You (Yet!) is an audio CD selection of twenty six of Piercy’s most popular political poems, introduced and performed by the author, with an accompanying 8 panel fold-out of photographs, an autobiographical sketch, and poems not yet found in any Piercy books.

In favorites such as “To be of use,” written during the Vietnam War; “For strong women,” and “The low road,” during the women’s movement; “No one came home,” the elegy for 9/11; “Right to life,” the much anthologized poem about abortion; and the hilarious “Sneak and Peek,” the poet’s reply to The Patriot Act,  Piercy confronts the social issues of our times in words that have become “catchphrases,” according to Erica Jong. “Poem after poem has that kind of authority, power, and verbal brilliance.”

One of a select handful of American poets to be a featured by Bill Moyers on his PBS television series, Marge Piercy’s reading style is powerful and unique; her poetry readings often standing-room-only events. She has performed at venues around the world, from the Library of Congress and New York City ’s Public Theater to the Institute for Contemporary Art in London and at over four hundred universities nationwide. Louder, We Can’t Hear You (Yet!) includes some of her most oft-requested poems, such as the deeply moving “Rape poem” and “For two women shot to death in Brookline, Massachusetts,” as well as the very funny “What’s that smell in the kitchen?” and “Report on the fourteenth subcommittee on convening a discussion group.”

“For anyone interested in what’s been happening on the cutting edge during the past two decades,” says The New York Times, “she’s clearly essential reading.” Louder, We Can’t Hear You (Yet!) Marge Piercy’s first- ever Audio CD and the only collection, in print or audio, of her political poems, is a unique addition to the oeuvre of one of America’s best known and best selling poets.                  

Marge Piercy is the author of sixteen novels including the national best sellers Gone to Soldiers and The Longings of Women; the modern classics, Woman on the Edge of Time and He, She and It:  and, released in 12/03, The Third Child, “An acidic commentary on Washington political culture.” —Publishers Weekly. She is the author of sixteen highly praised volumes of poetry, including The Moon is Always Female, The Art of Blessing the Day and Colors Passing Through Us. Her memoir Sleeping with Cats is the story of growing up in center city Detroit, becoming a social activist and a major American writer. Find out much more about the author and her work at: www.margepiercy.com.