From all of this I am the only one
who leaves.
The shadow of blood does not leave,
nor the hands,
nor the child turned into a rope,
nor the rope into fire,
nor the flame become plague of scattering
and landlessness.
—from “Torturer’s Resignation”
The Stone of Language “move[s] from the stories of individual lives to the events that have entered our global consciousness.
“They explore the world of work, from circuses to wedding ring factories to classrooms; and the world of war, from the agonies of Israel/Palestine to the Bosnian war to New York of 9/11.
“They examine the need for flight and the recovery of ancestral knowledge.
“While they rage against injustice, they also search for healing.
“Above all they are songs of the people’s struggle.”—New Pages
“Anya Achtenberg’s visionary workshops on writing for social change have received national acclaim. With this book of poetry, she practices what she preaches—redreaming a just world—in a way that is simply breathtaking.”
— Demetria Martínez
Anya Achtenberg is an award-winning fiction writer as well as poet.
Her first book of poetry, I Know What the Small Girl Knew, was published by Holy Cow! Press.
She teaches widely, including courses on Writing for Social Change, sometimes with writer-activist Demetria Martínez.
