Poetry

Mina Loy tried her hand at many things: painting, prose, manifestos, and even lamp-making. She was, however, unquestionably most successful with poetry. Long under-appreciated (perhaps because of her unabashed writing on sexuality and feminism) she has in the last few decades gained critical acclaim as a key voice of the modernist movement.

Loy’s somewhat chaotic life and relationships brought her into contact with many of the great artists and writers of the age. She spent time with Gertrude Stein and the Italian Futurists in Florence, before emigrating to New York and finding a circle centered around the magazine Others including William Carlos Williams and Marianne Moore. While she only published two books of poetry and a novel in her lifetime, the natural home for her work was the magazines she contributed to. This collection comprises all the poems by Mina Loy that are in the public domain, with the exception of “Love Songs,” which is an abridged version of “Songs to Joannes.” The poems are presented in chronological order of initial publication.