Like any poetry collection, some of these landed with me better than others but overall it was moving and strong. Here are a few favorites:

-"Female" by Kimberly Johnson
-"An Open Letter to the Protesters Outside the Planned Parenthood Near My Job" by Elizabeth Acevedo
-"To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall" by Kim Addonizio
-"The Children's Chorus" by Jacqueline Jones LaMon

Good gift for the women in your life who like poetry.

In times like these, the poems here spoke to my soul. They bring out all the emotions. They made me smile and brought tears to my eyes. I fell like they speak to deep feelings and made me angry all at one.

I'm' not typically a big reader of poetry, but I really enjoyed this collection. Some were definitely stronger than others, but I liked how the style differed dramatically between selections. It's inclusive, empowering, and powerful. I am definitely glad that I picked this book up!

A feminist poetry collection that discusses race, gender identity and sexuality. I really enjoyed the variety of poetry styles that each contributor used. There's a variety in content and form. I am not sure each piece is beautiful and exciting. The collection encompasses the works of a diverse range of poets who I'll definitely want to check out. I don't read that much poetry, but this collection of works from such inspiring people was indeed a hidden gem.

This is an important read, and a good one at that, but it missed the mark with me a little. Poetry is highly subjective, and whilst there were a few poems that really resonated with me, I found that it wasn't necessarily my preferred style for the most part.

That being said, the diversity of this book and the content within it is absolutely amazing! It was definitely a case of 'it's not you, it's me.' The anger, the passion and the talent for words, all in a collection of feminist poetry? Of course it's gonna be good!

Overall, I enjoyed it enough, though it wasn't entirely my thing.

Enjoyed this greatly, but I would have wished it would have been easier to read. The formatting for this advance copy was oddly made. However, the content was enjoyable.

This collection of poems is empowering, heartbreaking and all around badass! I was cheering, crying and getting pissed at various times during this collection.

4.5 stars! Thanks to Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange of my honest review. I really liked this collection of poetry. Each of these parts brings courage and many other motivating and inspiring elements.
I recommend this collection to everyone!!

Whoa, I got goosebumps all over from reading this book. The words of poetry in this anthology bleed truth and stories that are timelessly appropriate. I was very invested in reading this because from the beginning I found parts I could relate to.

I admit there were some parts I did not fully comprehend, especially towards the end of the book but overall this book is amazing. The fact that all of these people are speaking out and writing about what is important is amazing.

Books like these help us to open our eyes further and look around to something other than ourselves. Women of Resistance helps us to realize we are in a world full of people who are willing to resist the labels and titles given to them stereotypically, and the question I found myself asking was where do I stand? Beautifully written and haunting.

Women of Resistance is a beautiful collection of feminist poetry that cuts across ethnic, gender, and sexuality borders. This poetry is absolutely beautiful and magnificently thought provoking. A must read for lovers of feminist literature. The beautiful cover helps of course.

Women of Resistance is a new collection of feministic poetry from a variety of different poets. The collection is a reaction to the 2016 Presidential election but it includes a variety of different cultural experiences. It is a celebration of the complexity and diversity of feminism and its objective is to combat racism, sexism and violence.

Poetry is difficult to review. It’s difficult because everyone experiences poems differently (and that’s what is so fantastic about poetry). We even vary in our experience of a poem according what kind of day we are having. In my opinion, poetry induces more diverse experiences and opinions than any other format of literature. Therefore, I can review this collection but my review is only reflective of my subjective experience. I might not even agree with myself if I were to reread this collection. But isn’t that magical!

My favourite thing about this collection is its diversity. It is diverse in cultural background, gender, sexuality, and religion, and that is something to be celebrated in its own right. As a bookaholic feminist, I have devoured quite a few books about feminism but way too often those books are about and for white, straight or gay women from Western countries. Lately, feminism has received some much needed celebration of colour and sexuality but for some reason, gender is still rarely acknowledged. Women of resistance includes feministic poems by men and about men. Which kind of makes me confused as to why the collection is named the heavily gendered ‘Women of Resistance’ instead of just ‘Poems for a New Feminism’. Although I do admit that Women of Resistance sounds catchy.

Women of Resistance should have been a poetry collection to cherish for years. A poetry collection to come back to whenever in need of a little soul therapy. Unfortunately, this collection did not do that for me. There are close to 150 poems in the collection but I went through a powerful experience with only 9 of them. That said, those 9 poems well perfectly worth reading through all the others and they made me mentally scream “FIVE STARS, FIVE STARS”.

For the most part, this collection just did not stir me into any direction. It’s not that I hated these poems, but I lacked feeling overall. Which, I must admit, is one of the worst things to happen when you’re trying to enjoy poetry. My lack of feeling was partly induced by the format of poems; I happen to dislike abstract, long-form poetry, and I would classify quite a few of the poems in this collection in that category. I prefer short poetry in which you say little but mean a lot. Sorry if my categorisations make little sense! It's hard to label poems haha.

I would not recommend this poetry collection for someone new to poetry because of the largely abstract content. However, if you have read a collection or couple and you’re looking for something new, this might be the one for you. Remember that your experience of it might be the opposite of mine.

“i heard a woman becomes herself the first
time she speaks
without permission
then, every word out of her mouth a riot”

Be still my beating heart….

I know that this is a terrible place to start with a book review but I love the cover of this book, it is beautiful and one that I will be adding to my physical copy bookshelf ASAP, especially now that I know what a wonderful poetry collection this is.

With massive movements such as Times Up it could be easy to believe that feminism is alive, well and understood/supported by the majority of people, however, there are a lot of people that while they support Times Up, don’t really understand the complete need and the complexities of feminism. Which is where this gem of poetry collection comes in. It is beautiful, powerful and inspiring. It shows the incredible breadth of feminism and what women from all walks of life deal with every day.

This is a fine collection of poets, men as well as women, speaking out against patriarchy and for the power and dignity of the individual. The focus is, as suggested by the title, on women but the poets also speak out about race. Some of the most interesting poems concern the intersection of different identities.

The poets represented include some of my favorite poets now writing: Ada Limon, Anne Waldeman, Tyehimba Jess, Mary Ruefle, Rachel McKibbons, and Kwame Dawes. But it is a collection of many extraordinary poets and really every poet contributes something valuable. There are so many poems of amazing strength.

The editors say that the anthology serves a multitude of purposes, "part love letter, part manifesto, part confession, part wish...[i]it is also a meditation on grief." The project began in response to the 2016 election and is, amongst other things, a protest against all the needless limitations we have had placed on us by an oppressive society. Many of the poems deal with violence against women and children. But just as present are poems celebrating strengths and triumphs.

Denice Frohman writes (in "A Woman's Place") in the opening poem of the collection: "all the women i know are perennials--marigolds,/daffodils/soft things that refuse to die." and "I'm a better woman now that I'm writing poems." There is strength in vulnerability and openness. And I also believe we are better when we write poems, speak to each other and listen to each other ("And the listening/seems to take no time at all.", Lauren Clark, "Vortex Temporum").

This is a volume worth taking the time to read, to listen to these voices crying out in anger and in joy. A book worth celebrating.

I thank NetGalley, OR Books, and editors Danielle Barnhart and Iris Mahan, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Never in my life have I read a book so powerful that it made me feel even more proud to be a woman. I loved this and couldn't put it down! Highly recommend this!

This collection of poetry is absolutely stunning and liberating. No one woman has an identical experience, but we all share the same thing - womanhood. It’s imprtant to listen, to lift, and to lead. I am buying a copy when I can because this book belongs on my baby’s feminism shelf.

Another one that wasn’t for me. Some books need to find the right reader and I wasn’t it this time around. The prose is dense and sometimes hard to follow in the collection of previously published works compiled under the umbrella of Women of Resistance. I have no doubt that someone else could pick up this book and fell in love with it, but I couldn’t.

This is a really powerful collection of poems written by a diverse group of writers. I loved the variety of topics, especially the poem on conflict in the Middle East.

The collection did a great job of capturing different experiences and I couldn't put the book down. I also love the cover and I think it really captures how diverse the voices in the book are.

Like most compilations, some work will appeal more than others but given the content of this book it appealed to me a great deal. It has anger and fear and love and disgust and annoyance and beauty and - well just about everything a diverse group of women would have. There is some truly stunning writing in this collection - and there is also the need to be aware of potential triggers.

"I am about to step outside, I am about to step outside to the elements and my anticipation is a long inhalation that covers the world upon release."

There is something here for every women (and man) and that might be different on any given day as the collection speaks across emotions and age/class/creed to make you glad that talented women continue to speak out and resist.

I would recommend this collection to anyone becoming cynical about the current political climate and needing reassurance that their voice can be heard.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the poems included in this collection. The poems are very powerful and need to be heard. I recommend you pick up this book and give it a try.

A literary work that tackles femininity, sexuality and gender identity says the blurb but it goes deeper, there was more to it than that it talked about racism, violence, abuse... I love that the collection took on such subjects, especially in this day of age. It would disseminate and enlighten more people, more voices to be heard. It's great!

But I tried so, so much to get into this, it wasn't for me. I found myself skimming and skipping some pages to get it over, I wasn't that bad, it wasn't that good either, for it still gave me that emotion of purity and rawness as a finished input of it.

I would still recommend it to all to read. Pick it up and it may be your cup of tea after all.