Publisher: Finishing Line Press
August 19, 2022
Paperback: 44 pages (chapbook)
ISBN-10 : 1646629361
ISBN-13 : 978-1646629367
Cost at time of this review: $14.99
5 Stars
The poems in this book are, simply, amazing. The first poem, One Minute, is a poem of grief, of loss, of acceptance. I think it helps in reading her poems to note she is writing her story of quadriplegia and cerebral palsy. Her poems are not whines of ‘oh, woe is me’ they are frank looks at herself from where she started to where she is. The final lines of her poem, One Minute, says it all, “Before Quietly Stepping Into / Who I Am Now.” She is not a victim; she is a victor.
A few of her poems are as short as 3 lines, such as A Refracted Moment, “I watch my mother cry / desperate to reshape the asymmetrical daisy / swimming in her box of tears” and some are long as two pages. Most are one page.
All her poems have a line that will resonate. At least they did with me. Such as the second stanza of Portrait of a Magpie, “She is not misfortune; contrarily, she has soured / Soaking in wine and seasoned with antidepressants—"
However, for me, the piece de resistance of the book culminates in the third to last poem, Watching You Undress Me (A Love Letter to Body Image). It’s a love letter to body image, it’s a love letter to self, it’s a love letter to her lover. It is a beautiful poem to the beauty of being human, of acceptance, of, simply, being alive.
The last poem is a short one, and closes this book quietly, with many thoughts about living life to the fullest. A Diggers Lot, “Sitting alone / at time’s end—"
I’m not the only one who liked Watching You Undress Me—it was nominated for a Puschcart! Buy this book.
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