[.ca] A Formal Feeling Comes: Poems in Form by Contemporary Women (ISBN 0934257981)

From Amazon.com:
If Emily Dickinson wasn't the mother of American poetry, she was at least the favorite eccentric aunt. The long-standing poetic rebellion against formalism, especially as it has helped feminist writers to find a free and authentic voice, has had the unfortunate byproduct of separating many women writers from the Dickinsonian tradition of carefully crafted verse. The discipline of poetic form can lead to a freshness of vision, and many women writers are either rediscovering, or have never forgotten, the benefits of scansion, meter, and fixed-form poetry. In this collection you'll find stunning formal poetry, which Rita Dove calls "a talisman against disintegration." Annie Finch has included work from Jane Kenyon, May Sarton, and Molly Peacock, among others.

a useful book for poets interested in formal poetry:
This anthology is very useful to anyone who wants to read contemporary poetry in traditional forms. I like the range of poets displayed ( from Rhina Esphillat to Nikki Giovanni to Honor Moore) and the way poets bend and extend the traditional forms we usually think of as confining. The authors also give a brief commentary on their work, which helps give the reader insight into how and why poets choose certain forms.