The Discussion of Women's Poetry List-serv, known as WOM-PO or WOMPO, is an international listserv devoted to the discussion of poetry by women. WOM-PO was started in December 1997 by poet

Annie Finch Annie Finch (born October 31, 1956) is an American poet, critic, editor, translator, playwright, and performer and the editor of the first major anthology of literature about abortion. Her poetry is known for its often incantatory use of rhythm, ...

. The listserv is currently housed at

Nassau Community College Nassau Community College (NCC) is a public community college in Uniondale, New York, using the Garden City, New York ZIP Code. It was founded in 1959 and is part of the State University of New York. History Nassau Community College was cre ...

, New York, United States, with the majority of members from the United States, the U.K. Australia, and New Zealand. Discussion on the listserv has sparked numerous conference panels, poetry readings, poetic collaborations, spin-off listservs such as the Mom-Po list, journal publications such as a collaborative

Crown of sonnets A crown of sonnets or sonnet corona is a sequence of sonnets, usually addressed to one person, and/or concerned with a single theme. Each of the sonnets explores one aspect of the theme, and is linked to the preceding and succeeding sonnets by repe ...

published in ''Prairie Schooner'' in 2007, and an anthology, ''Letters to the World: Poems from the Wom-Po Listserv,'' published in 2008 by

Red Hen Press Red Hen Press is an American non-profit press located in Pasadena, California, and specializing in the publication of poetry, literary fiction, and nonfiction. The press is a member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, and was a final ...

History

In a 2016 interview, Finch describes the founding of WOM-PO as a response to the silencing of women on other poetry listservs, Contemporary American Poetry List and

POETICS list The University of Buffalo POETICS listserv (informally and variously known as UBPOETICS or the POETICS list) was one of the oldest and most widely known mailing lists devoted to the discussion of contemporary North American poetry and poetics. It ...

, in 1997. Finch says that "on December 18 I got so desperate that, pretty much on the spur of the moment, I got permission to use the Miami University server and started WOM-PO with an email to a few friends . . . and some women I didn’t know but had noticed trying in vain to have their intelligent comments heard on the male-dominated listservs." The first 10 subscribers were Wendy Battin, Catherine Daly,

Marilyn Hacker Marilyn Hacker (born November 27, 1942) is an American poet, translator and critic. She is Professor of English emerita at the City College of New York. Her books of poetry include ''Presentation Piece'' (1974), which won the National Book Award, ...

, Rachel Loden, Gwyn McVay,

Marilyn Nelson Marilyn Nelson (born April 26, 1946) is an American poet, translator, and children's book author. She is a professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut, and the former poet laureate of Connecticut, She is a winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry ...

, Judith Roitman, Susan Schultz, Kathrine Varnes, and Elizabeth Waldner. Finch was a "very active, very hands on facilitator during the formative years of building the culture of the listserv, for probably the first five or six years." One early challenge was the question of whether to allow men on the listserv, which was settled, after extensive discussion, through consensus with a "yes." Finch asked poet

Amy King Amy King (born August 4, 1974) is an American poet, essayist, and activist. Early life and education Born in Baltimore, Maryland, King grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia and received her B.S. in English and women's studies from Towson Univer ...

to take over in 2008.

Members

Some notable members of Wom-Po have included poets

Sandra Beasley Sandra Beasley (born May 5, 1980, in Vienna, Virginia) is an American poet and non-fiction writer. Background Beasley graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, earned a B.A. in English ''magna cum laude'' from the U ...

, Margo Berdeshevsky,

Chana Bloch Chana Bloch (March 15, 1940 – May 19, 2017) was an American poet, translator, and scholar. She was a professor emerita of English at Mills College in Oakland, California. Life and work Born as Florence Ina Faerstein in the Bronx, New York, sh ...

Allison Hedge Coke Allison Adelle Hedge Coke is an American poet and editor. Her debut book, ''Dog Road Woman'', won the American Book Award and was the first finalist of the Paterson Poetry Prize and Diane DeCora Award. Since then, she has written five more books ...

, Martha Collins, Sharon Doubiago,

, Ann Fisher-Wirth,

Daisy Fried Daisy Fried (born 1967, Ithaca, New York) is an American poet. Life Fried graduated from Swarthmore College in 1989. Her work has appeared in ''The London Review of Books'', ''The Nation'', ''Poetry'', ''The New Republic'', ''American Poetry ...

Kate Gale Kate Gale (born 1963) is an American author, poet, librettist, and independent publisher. She is the managing editor of Red Hen Press. Life Kate Gale was born in Binghamton, New York to Stephen Gale and Evadene Swanson. She graduated with a B ...

Daniela Gioseffi Daniela Gioseffi (born 1941) is a poet, novelist and performer who won the American Book Award in 1990 for ''Women on War; International Writings from Antiquity to the Present'' (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1988). She has published 16 books of ...

Arielle Greenberg Arielle Greenberg (born 1972) is a feminist poet and the poetry editor of ''Black Clock''. She is most renowned for naming and describing the concept of the Gurlesque in the anthology ''Gurlesque: the new grrly, grotesque, burlesque poetics'', ...

, Gabriel Gudding,

R. S. Gwynn Robert Samuel "Sam" Gwynn (born 1948, Eden, North Carolina) is an American poet and anthologist associated with New Formalism. Life Gwynn is married and lives in Beaumont, Texas. He graduated from Davidson College in 1969, where he won the Ver ...

Allison Joseph Allison Joseph (born 1967) is an American poet, editor and professor. She is author of eight full-length poetry collections, most recently, ''Confessions of a Bare-Faced Woman'' (Red Hen Press, 2018). Biography Born in London, England, to parents ...

, Farideh Hassanzadeh,

Eloise Klein Healy Eloise Klein Healy (born 1943) is an American poet. She has published five books of poetry and three chapbooks. Her collection of poems, ''Passing'', was a finalist for the 2003 Lambda Literary Awards in Poetry and the Audre Lorde Award from The ...

Julie Kane :''Disambiguation: for the character voiced by Kate Micucci see Motorcity#Protagonists.'' Julie Kane (born July 20, 1952 in Boston) is a contemporary American poet, scholar, and editor and was the Louisiana Poet Laureate for the 2011–2013 ter ...

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...

, Jeffrey Levine,

Mendi Obadike Mendi Obadike ( in 1973) and Keith A. L. Townsend Obadike (born 1973) are an Igbo Nigerian American couple who create music, writing, and art. Their music, live art and conceptual Internet artworks have been exhibited internationally. She is an ass ...

Alicia Ostriker Alicia Suskin Ostriker (born November 11, 1937) is an American poet and scholar who writes Jewish feminist poetry.Powell C.S. (1994) ''Profile: Jeremiah and Alicia Ostriker – A Marriage of Science and Art'', Scientific American 271(3), 28-3 ...

Katha Pollitt Katha Pollitt (born October 14, 1949) is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her writing focuses on political and social issues from a left-leaning perspective, including abo ...

Molly Peacock Molly Peacock (born Buffalo, New York 1947) is an American-Canadian poet, essayist, biographer and speaker, whose multi-genre literary life also includes memoir, short fiction, and a one-woman show. Career Peacock's latest book is Flower Diary ...

, Mira Rosenthal, Metta Sama, Rati Saxena,

Susan M. Schultz Susan M. Schultz (born 1958) is an American poet, critic, publisher and English professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She specializes in modern and contemporary poetry, American literature, and creative writing. She moved from Virginia ...

, Peggy Shumaker,

Evie Shockley Evie Shockley is an American poet. Shockley received the 2012 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry for her book ''the new black'' and the 2012 Holmes National Poetry Prize. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2018. Early life and education ...

Ron Silliman Ron Silliman (born August 5, 1946) is an American poet. He has written and edited over 30 books, and has had his poetry and criticism translated into 12 languages. He is often associated with language poetry. Between 1979 and 2004, Silliman wr ...

, Patricia Smith,

Stephanie Strickland Stephanie Strickland (born February 22, 1942) is a poet living in New York City. She has published ten volumes of print poetry and co-authored twelve digital poems. Her files and papers are being collected by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book And ...

Lesley Wheeler Lesley Wheeler is an American poet and literary scholar. She is the Henry S. Fox Professor of English at Washington and Lee University. Education and career Wheeler was born in Baldwin, New York. She earned her bachelor's degree from Rutgers U ...

, and

Rachel Zucker Rachel Zucker is an American poet born in New York City in 1971. She is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently, ''SoundMachine'' (Wave Books 2019). She also co-edited the book ''Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections'' ...

Culture

Wom-Po is a close community with distinctive longstanding traditions such as referring to members playfully as "womponies" and an annual Friday breakfast at the Associated Writers Program conference. Several volunteer-run weekly newsletters keep the list free of self-promotional and congratulatory posts so that discussion can focus on poetry.Raab, Zara. "Poet and Scholar Annie Finch in Conversation." http://zararaab.com/poet-teach-annie-finch-conversation/1

References

{{reflist

External links

List Archives at Nassau Community College

Letters to the World at Red Hen Press

Interview with Annie Finch by Zara Raab

Review of Letters to the World by Sandra Mullen at Junctures

Interview with Annie Finch by Frances Donovan
Poetry organizations Organizations for women writers