An Opera of Hankering, Poems by Ginnah Howard

An Opera of Hankering by Ginnah Howard is a lifetime collection of one woman’s most personal moments, written in the moment—the moment of longing, of lust, of love; of terrible loss, tender remembrance, deep regret. It is one woman’s whole truth, growing wiser and deeper with age.

Sample Poems by Ginnah Howard

“There are times when a collection of poems strikes an especially congenial chord for me. The poems in Ginnah Howard’s An Opera of Hankering do that with their clarity, energy, and immediacy. ‘Immediacy’—that’s the right word. Descriptive, detailed, beautifully written and formed, taken one at a time and all together Howard’s poems have me right there with her despite our very different life experiences and trajectories.

Covering the gamut of her long, full life, these seventy poems are boundlessly honest and revealing. Across the volume’s sections, I am astounded most by the contrasts in mood and diction. From meditative to rebellious, from deeply serious to hilarious, from tolerant and compassionate to angry and snide, these poems show us the many parts of the poet’s life, with her different, age-centered reactions to and reflections on that life, in starkly different voices that come together, when read as a whole, in one essential, transcendent voice.”—David Bachner, author of Just Then, Just There

“Ginnah Howard’s An Opera of Hankering is one of the most evocative collections of poems I’ve ever read. I am astounded by her creative use of simile and metaphor in such subtle ways to produce images and elicit emotions in these heartfelt, poignant poems. Hooray and three cheers for Ginnah and this fine keepsake collection.”—Harry Barnes, author of the series Over the Barnes Bridge

“Ginnah Howard read many poems from this collection in our fireside salons at Women At Woodstock. Reading her words now, I hear her voice; its slight southern lilt, its warmth and wry humor as she shares her life, unvarnished. An Opera of Hankering lays bare the truth of all women’s lives.”—Ann Voorhees Baker, author of “Midnight in the Garden of Sid and Eva” and other short stories, and founder, Women At Woodstock Writers’ Colonies and Retreats