Lives of the Women Poets

(from biographical notes in The Things That Matter edited by Julia Neuberger)

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Essentially she is not very well-remembered.
She had a happy but limited childhood.
After she was married to the easy-going Tommy Tucker,
also known as "the Skipper" her years were rich
in love and devotion but short on cash and comfort.
Most of her work went and goes unread
It deserves at least a second look.
She was T.S. Eliot's secretary.
Most of her poetry is hard reading these days.
Now and then we are grateful for a sense of humor popping up.
She never enjoyed good health.
Her most famous love conquest was George Bernard Shaw.
Her poetry has been the subject of a lot of criticism.
Her content is not always to today's taste.
Her work ought to appear immature, which it does not.
No longer able to play the violin, she took to writing poetry.
Her husband was smitten with acute neurotis.
She was, despite everything, an extraordinary woman.
Her poetry was not what made her memorable.
She expressed well the turbulent passions of her soul,
but never attained her sister's success or popularity.
After her death, her sister would not allow
anything of Jewish interest to be included
in her collected works.
Her life as secluded, isolated, but her death was brave.
She did not relish the idea of a prolonged death.
Her poetry is most fascinating when it is not clear
to whom it is addressed.