The Pantyhose Declarations

Nan Lundeen's powerful collection of thirty-eight poems introduces the reader to women who refuse to wear pantyhose, who rebuff the duty train, and who discover the magic of a redemptive red bra. Her poetry celebrates the Goddess in her many guises, the Earth swathed in its solstitial shrouds, and the power of a women's circle. It reclaims the Persephone-Demeter myth as two independent women and celebrates the "unafraid dark soul" on the longest night of the year. The ancient Eastern goddess, Quan Yin, speaks "soft as a bell offshore/soft as a white petal/dusting cheek of Muse." The Earth awakens in April and, "the trees -- the narrow trees/seemingly dead/everywhere singing with frothy green." Lundeen's poetry honors the robust women of her Iowa heritage -- her late grandmother who becomes an angel, stirring soap in the farmhouse basement as an Easter ice storm rages; her mother, Marian, who refuses to relinquish her singing voice to dementia; and Aunt Geneva, who struggles like a sumo wrestler with her corset on her wedding day. She finds spirituality in simple scenes, "The praying tree/one gray arm curved upward/as if she were a war veteran/who refuses to relinquish faith," and she finds grace in her little dog who sits beside her while she brushes her teeth: "Nobody else I know will do that."