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We Used to be WivesWe Used To Be Wives: Divorce Unveiled Through Poetry, by Jane Butkin Roth, (published 2002 by Fithian Press, a division of Daniel & Daniel, Publishers), is a compilation from more than 70 women on their divorce experiences. The poems explore the challenging and transforming journey of divorce and its aftermath from its confusion, heartbreak, and rage to new awareness and discovery, confidence, courage--even unexpected joy. As the publisher says:

If you have divorced or know anyone who has, We Used To Be Wives—Divorce Unveiled Through Poetry will throw light—humorous, moving, angry, suspicious, forgiving, and transforming light—on this common yet life-altering experience. In the introduction to We Used To Be Wives, editor Jane Butkin Roth points out that now, with so many opportunities open to women, we don’t have to define ourselves only as mother or wife. But with this new freedom comes a tendency to minimize the effects of divorce—marriage is no longer all we have, so what’s the big deal? We Used To Be Wives reminds us that with a divorce come losses to mourn and changes to love and hate.
More than seventy women who have experienced divorce contribute to this new anthology of poetry. We Used To Be Wives is organized into sections to reflect the stages of divorce. The poems cover a wide range of emotions—not always pretty, not always decorous—that reveal the true feelings that many women live with before, during, and after a divorce.
But these passionate writings about divorce aren’t whining or complaining. These are spunky accounts that shout out the realities of divorce. Keddy Ann Outlaw’s "Things I Don’t Want to Share With Him Anymore" is a true list of those things—practical and intimate—that couples share, and it reveals what was and what isn’t anymore. Marge Piercy’s "A story wet as tears" is about the frog who turned into a prince, but then, after years of marriage, turned back into a frog. Dina Ben-Lev’s "Driving" sorts out the fact that love can change or disappear, how a marriage can fail, and what she misses from her marriage. Francine Witte’s "Falling" catches a couple’s bittersweet moment of honesty and tenderness, an acknowledgment of the end of their marriage. Joanne McCarthy’s "The Vagina Poem" is a monologue celebrating retirement from sexual obligation.
With poems by famous and lesser-known poets, We Used To Be Wives is a handbook to survive divorce, and not because it’s instructive or therapeutic—though it is—but because it’s a companion along the road. The experiences and e

Gail Donohue Storey, the author of God's Country Club and The Lord's Motel, said this about it:

These are the voices of rage, humiliation, and sorrow redeemed through art for heart-opening transformation. Brilliantly organized, We Used To Be Wives traverses the stages of love lost, grief endured, the self exquisitely regained.

John Fox, the author of Finding What You Didn't Lose and Poetic Medicine, comments thusly:

This anthology can give your sorrow, rage and loss 'a song.' Jane Roth's intelligent and heartful anthology offers both women and men who know divorce, or who are considering it, courage and insight.

June Cotner, the author of Graces, Mothers and Daughters and Baby Blessings says:

From the cry of one to the song of many, these voices join in a chorus of courage, strength, and inspiration. Thank you, Jane, for putting together a powerful and empowering book about a passage that affects half of all women.

Jane Candia Coleman, the author of Desperate Acts, had this to say about it:

There is no whining in these pages, no trite sentiment or blatant confession, only the haunting experiences of women poets seeking reasons with compassion, fighting back out of necessity, writing with ability and grace. Read this book. Then read it again. And again.

The Oklahoma Gazette reviews:

The roller coaster of divorce isn't easily organized, and a collection like this could have collapsed into scattered disarray. But Roth's able editing allows the book to achieve a poignant emotional timbre and a sensitive balance between the sophomoric and the overly intellectual. Whether its humorous--and there is some humor here--melancholy, anger or jubilation, the poetry in We Used To Be Wives transcends the trite and predictable and makes the first step of the journey to another place possible.

Fearless Reviews had comments:

If you have been through divorce, read this book; it will show you that you're not alone. If you know someone going through a divorce, buy a copy for her. As for that no-good jerk on the other end … eh, there are a few poems in here that you might want to photocopy and stuff into his mail slot, or other appropriate orifice.

And the editors of Pearl said this about it:

Page after page, We Used To Be Wives is a finely written tome of evocative and enlightening wisdom, its many voices representing the multifarious phases of separation and divorce. A magnificent chorus of harmonious poetry vocals ranging from sorrow to triumph and ultimate epiphany—yet every poem within is unique and speaks for itself.

We Used to be Wives is a 240-page paperback, priced at $14.95. It's available from Buy.com, but if you'd like an autographed copy, just write to the author at jbroth@literati.net for purchasing info.