Image 1 of 1
Poets change the world.
As a journalist in the 1980s, Demetria Martínez covered the journey of two Salvadoran women seeking sanctuary in the United States. She ended up being charged with conspiracy against the government for her involvement in the story. Evidence brought against her in court included her poem written about the migrants’ plight. She was ultimately acquitted on First Amendment grounds.
Likewise, Susan Sherman had taken up activism in another era—protesting McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, and fascism both in the streets and in print. She founded the revolutionary IKON magazine and wrote poetry to speak to the feminism emerging at that time.
In this collaborative volume, these two women and their new & selected poems engage in dialogue about their experiences in such different eras—and the continuing power of the written word in dangerous times.
This book will be published September 2, 2025. Advance orders have two choices: receive an early pre-publication copy, or receive a copy signed by the authors after launch.
Praise for Poetry in Dangerous Times
“These are dangerous times indeed. In such times, again and again, we turn to poets like Demetria Martínez and Susan Sherman. Here are two poets who have faced dangerous times before, always with courage, patience, compassion, and eloquence. In the face of danger, they not only speak, but sing. The proof is in the pages of this unique and necessary collection, two women from two different worlds showing us our common ground, the path we must walk, illuminated by the fire in these poems, to find our common humanity, to find the way home.”
—Martín Espada, author of the National Book Award-winning Floaters and the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Republic of Poetry
“Meet two women from two worlds: Demetria Martínez, a Chicana rooted in family history passed on, and Susan Sherman, a Jewish woman self-exiled from a family who wanted to forget. Martínez whispers poems down the page in images so tender it feels like being let in on a secret: ‘Dreams opening/Like the fist of an infant.’ Sherman’s is a seasoned philosopher’s voice simmered in ‘the usual detritus of Manhattan nights’ resulting in a rich stew of insights to be savored, even better the second time around. When strong/queer/activist poets craft a gift this magnificent, take it.”
—Mary Oishi, Albuquerque Poet Laureate Emerita and author of Sidewalk Cruiseship
“What are some poets doing when they're not writing poetry? As Poetry in Dangerous Times: Two Women, Two Worlds reveals, they are trying to repair the world.… Free of didacticism and slogans, these poems address a wide range of themes and passions, always deeply moving as they remind us to struggle for social justice but also to rest and remember the people and things we love and struggle for; they are enriching and engaging.”
—Irena Klepfisz, author of Her Birth and Later Years: New and Collected Poems 1971–2021