Poetry for Students

Volume 24 177

column called “Poets Corner.” Muske-Dukes is the
author of several fiction and nonfiction books, but
she is best known for her award-winning poetry.

Muske-Dukes was born on December 17, 1945,
in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and went to Creighton
University, where she received her bachelor’s
degree in English in 1967. Three years later, she
completed her master’s degree in English and cre-
ative writing at San Francisco State University.
Muske-Dukes gained her writing experience at sev-
eral prestigious schools, including the New School
for Social Research, Columbia University, and New
York University. She has taught at the University
of Virginia, the University of Iowa, and the Uni-
versity of California, Irvine.

Her books of poetry include Sparrow(2003),
in which “Our Side” appears; An Octave above
Thunder: New and Selected Poems(1997); Red
Trousseau (1993); Applause (1989); Skylight
(1981); and Camouflage(1975). Women and Po-
etry: Truth, Autobiography and the Shape of the
Self(1997) and Married to the Icepick Killer: A
Poet in Hollywood(2002) are her two collections
of essays. Muske-Dukes has written three novels:
Life after Death: A Novel(2001), Saving St. Germ
(1993), and Dear Digby(1989).

Muske-Dukes has received many awards, in-

cluding the Chapin Award from Columbia Univer-

sity for Sparrow, which also was a National Book

Award finalist. Married to the Icepick Killerwas

listed as a Best Book of 2002 by the San Francisco

Chronicle. The poet has one daughter and was mar-

ried to the actor David Dukes, who died in 2000.

Sparrowis dedicated to her late husband.

Poem Summary

Poem Summary

Stanza 1

“Our Side” begins with an attempt by the

speaker to understand what it must be like to be

Our Side

Carol Muske-Dukes Photograph by Rex Wilder. Reproduced by
permission