The Light That Puts an End to Dreams

Overview

An autobiography told in poems, this selection of work spans more than 40 years, beginning with the avant-garde arts movement and political activism of the 1960s. A mixture of intense political poems, intimate love poems, and provocative reflections, it traces the journey of a woman intimately involved with many significant events of the 20th century—the antiwar, feminist, and gay liberation movements, including time spent in Chile, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Barcelona. Accompanied by exquisite photographs, this collection culminates with a suite of 12 poems connecting contemporary history with the 17th century world of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Reviews

"This book of commitment and witness is a giving, generous collection that reveals a world of human experience, growth and change through different times and significant historical events."  —Linda Hogan, Native American poet

"Susan Sherman's poems have both urgency and elegance. Her new collection fills the air with fragrant memories of activism, ideals and lost love. The suite of poems dedicated to Sor Juana is an exquisite evocation of that poet's fiery brilliance which is mirrored in Sherman's own."  —Jewelle Gomez, author, The Gilda Stories

"Sherman's poems are living things, full of love and anger, personal rambles and political slash. This book burns with truth, spreading a light that makes you see things as they are, and pushing you to do something about it."  —Bob Holman, author, A Couple of Ways of Doing Something

"Susan Sherman questions God like a renegade Talmudic scholar, and somehow her self doubts and affirmations blossom into a rare bouquet. I'd say those flowers are blood-red rubies, for a life lived firmly on earth, with purpose."  —Sharon Olinka, author, The Good City and A Face Not My Own

Author Biography

Susan Sherman is a poet, playwright, essayist, editor, and cofounder of IKON magazine. She is the author of America’s Child: A Woman’s Journey through the Radical Sixties and The Color of the Heart: Writing from Struggle & Change 1959–1990. She lives in New York City. Margaret Randall is a feminist poet, writer, photographer, and social activist. She is the author of more than 80 books, including Sandino’s Daughters: Testimonies of Nicaraguan Women in Struggle, Stones Witness, and Their Backs to the Sea: Poems and Photographs. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Joséphine Sacabo is a renowned photographer whose work appears in many books, such as a reissue of the classic Mexican novel Pedro Páramo as well as in the permanent collection of numerous museums, including the Houston Museum of Fine Arts; the New Orleans Museum of Art; the Wittliff Collection of Southwestern and Mexican Art; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She lives in New Orleans, Louisiana.