{"product_id":"webovs","title":"We Bow To No One, by Vera Sirota","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\" align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePoetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"color: #2b00ff;\" data-mce-style=\"color: #2b00ff;\"\u003e\u003ca data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"color: #2b00ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/collections\/bottlecap-features\" data-mce-style=\"color: #2b00ff;\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/collections\/bottlecap-features\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBottlecap Features\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\" align=\"justify\"\u003eIn her debut poetry collection, Vera Sirota honors the invincible spirit of ordinary Ukrainians enduring a brutal war. She also pays tribute to creative women who refuse to stifle their artistic visions, even in the face of misogynistic violence.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\" align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe Bow To No One\u003c\/em\u003e weaves the stories of strong women across time and continents – from the elderly Babtsia in Bucha, Ukraine, who ignores calls to leave her home during the Russian invasion to the world’s first known poet, Enheduanna, returning triumphantly from exile in ancient Mesopotamia after her enemy’s defeat to a feminist Beat poet whose erotic love poems are deemed obscene and confiscated by the San Francisco Police in 1966. Sirota sanctifies these courageous women using a variety of forms, including free verse, pantoum, ekphrastic, and contrapuntal poems:\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\" align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eyou conjured the goddess\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e           Consort of heaven\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eand the moon sang triumphantly for you\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e           whose gem of rank is greatest of them all\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\" align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe Bow To No One\u003c\/em\u003e exalts the transformative force of poetry and is dedicated to creative rebels everywhere. Unflinching and packed with power, these luminous poems challenge, delight and beseech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\" align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"Vera Sirota writes about the fearless and is equally fearless in her writing. The poem \"Looking for Lenore\" serves as the centerpiece of this defiant collection. She combines Ukrainian images with the culture of American poetry. Vera is a poet who can be everything at once.\"\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e –Olena Jennings, author of the poetry collection \u003cem\u003eThe Age of Secrets\u003c\/em\u003e and the novel \u003cem\u003eTemporary Shelter\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"Vera Sirota’s inaugural poetry collection \u003cem\u003eWe Bow to No One\u003c\/em\u003e is a gift both of heart and fortitude. The title poem's defiant stance follows these poems around, as Sirota steadfastly seeks out beauty, grace, and indeed poetry, despite the war ravaging Ukraine, her ancestral country. Infused with regal feminine archetypes—heroic mothers, Odesan rusalkas (mermaids), the world’s first poet—Sirota’s steely women r\u003cem\u003eefuse to break their gaze . . . refuse to break\u003c\/em\u003e (“Village Poetess”). In the title poem, she writes “Hope animates my heart, because this is a national trait.” In Sirota’s deft and dignified hands, I am utterly convinced of it, and utterly inspired.\"\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e–Lissa Kiernan, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Whispering Wall\u003c\/em\u003e and founding director of The Poetry Barn\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\" align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eVera Sirota is the proud granddaughter of Ukrainian immigrants. Vera serves as a mentor for Girls Write Now, a creative writing organization for high school girls and gender-expansive youth in NYC. Vera’s poems have been featured in the \u003cem\u003ePoetry Distillery\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eStories by Girls Write Now\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eDark Onus Lit\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eArmstrong Literary\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eUkrainian American Poets Respond\u003c\/em\u003e, Music of Hope: a benefit concert in support of Ukraine, and the “SHATTERED: SYMBOLIC GESTURE” exhibition. Vera is a 2022 Martha Award Finalist for the David Wade Hogue Scholarship. She is a co-founder of the West of Willow poetry and music collective in Hoboken, New Jersey.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vera Sirota","offers":[{"title":"Chapbook","offer_id":45169801265467,"sku":"WEBOVS","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (PDF)","offer_id":45169801298235,"sku":"WEBOVSe","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0062\/4420\/4614\/files\/wefront.png?v=1697315856","url":"https:\/\/bottlecap.press\/products\/webovs","provider":"Bottlecap Press","version":"1.0","type":"link"}