Poetry
by June Gillam
Woman Song
Woman Song: For Better and For Worse
A collection of poems on the joys and sorrows of women in relationships, bridging the 20th and 21st centuries. Collection includes “Shameless Hussy Looks Back.” Pat Schneider, founder of Amherst Writers and Artists, read the poem during her presentations throughout the U.S.
“I enjoyed this book tremendously, partly for its layers of meaning, and partly for the sheer pleasure of Gillam’s imagery.” —Elizabeth Varadan, author
So Sweet Against Your Teeth
Poems from Childhood’s Fall
Bite into poetry set in Sacramento, California, during World War II. These poems express the bittersweet struggles of being female during the Father-Knows-Best era, and include issues uncommon at the time, such as living with divorced parents and being raised by a single mother.
“Gillam writes of her parent's divorce, of her mother's single parenting and Christian Science doctoring, of missing her father but not his flaws, and ultimately recognizing and accepting the harm done by the events of her childhood and young girlhood. Instead of reading a poem now and another poem later, I read the entire collection in one sitting, watching a confused little girl grow into a woman acknowledging her wounds.” —Reene Abbott on Amazon