Based on historical, biographical and geographic research, Sometimes a Woman explores the lives of 19th-century women-prostitutes and madams-who helped settle America's Wild West . Filled with voices that were mostly silenced in their era, these poems convey a variety of emotions, personalities and voices sometimes angry, usually feisty, and occasionally humorous. The poems, which vary in style and form, ranging from lyrical and narrative lineated poems to prose and found poems, pay tribute to and celebrate these women.