Appreciation

Annie Finch’s poetry is a pure tone that calls us home to the first impulse of poetry. We link to mystery. We lift off.

— Joy Harjo, Poet Laureate of the United States

Annie Finch taught me how to discover the music in my own body.

— Patricia Smith, Four-time National Poetry Slam Champion, National Book Award-Winner, Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets

Annie Finch has made form a one-eyed woman looking out at us all, beckoning us to enter into her arena and be.

— Sonia Sanchez, Poet and Cultural Icon

Annie Finch’s Calendars is the work of a major poet, one of very few who understand how lyric lives in part because it can speak for something larger than the ego.

— Charles Altieri, Emeritus Professor of Literature, University of California at Berkeley

Annie Finch is an American original.  The directness and simplicity of her poems are deceptive – they have depths and delights that appear to go on forever.

— Ron Silliman, Poet and Critic

Annie is the teacher that many of us yearn for, and some are lucky enough to work with. There is such a need for her earth and heart-based teachings.

— Maggie Santiago,  Meters of the Spirit Workshop Participant

I am awed by the massive technical skill and gut-wrenching bravery of Annie Finch’s Among the Goddesses. A classic. I almost said “a feminist classic,” but that limits it too much!.

— Patricia Monaghan, Author of The Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines

Like an Olympic ice skater, she makes intricate music look smooth and easy. . .I recommend her with enthusiasm—and awe.

— Molly Peacock, President Emerita, Poetry Society of America

Annie Finch’s beautiful reading [in the Holloway Reading Series at University of California, Berkeley] drew the largest audience of the year’s events and elicited a stream of messages to me (as curator of the series) expressing thanks and inspiration.

— Lyn Hejinian, Poet

Whenever I get discouraged about some trends in American poetry, I think of Annie Finch, a shining light, and I feel better.​

— Carolyn Kizer, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet​