LeHew, Laura - Let Widows Be Widows
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ISBN 978-1-956692-06-8
$16.00
$16.00
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PUBLISHER: Unsolicited Press (Portland, OR)
Let Widows be Widows is an elegiac collection of poetry. Using diverse points of view, Widows illuminates our various states of loss, hope, love and mourning we experience with death. This book is not a lament but rather an exploration on overcoming grief. (Unsolicited Press, 2022)
What People Are Saying About Let Widows Be Widows
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The poems of Let Widows Be Widows take us to the tenuous threshold between life and absence. In myriad ways, LeHew delivers the difficult news of the dissolution of relationships, of illness, suicide, terminal diagnoses, deaths both graceful and brutal: all so compassionately witnessed, they become in her poetic hands a litany, a meditation, a rant, a prayer. LeHew’s remarkable range of forms—from cento and sestina to haibun and sonnet—makes each poem an intricately crafted vessel, “radiant in the twilight,” holding us “at the border between the worlds.”
Terry Ehret, author of Lucky Break and Night Sky Journey |
This work could easily have been titled Duende Moon, a phrase from a poem late in the collection, as LeHew is not petitioning a beloved muse but wrestling with the duende, which only appears when there’s the possibility of death. Here it’s not just a possibility, it’s best friends, former romantic rivals, soldiers, former enemies, birds and cats (especially cats) all headed for the hereafter. While Lorca knew nothing can ever bring consolation, these fierce poems reflect a life as an ongoing elegy, capturing moments with a true poet’s rare and authentic pathos.
Paul E Nelson, Founder of SPLAB and author of A Time Before Slaughter/ Pig War: & Other SOngs of Cascadia |
“Salvage what you can. / Throw away what you cannot.” In Laura LeHew’s dark yet often humorous poems, nature, grief, and the body’s vulnerabilities connect in a world of cascading losses. A tumor is named “Frederick,” teen-agers get high on bath salts, and an owl brings news from the spirit world. Steeped in the reality of what it means to be human, these clear and vibrant poems take us on a dizzying trip through airports, hospitals, and even to the United States’ Capitol. LeHew looks directly at life’s many contradictions, refusing to turn away from distress, absurdity or loss.
Erica Goss, author of Night Court
Erica Goss, author of Night Court