Poems
by Chelsea Dingman
University of Georgia Press
Poetry
Pub Date 15 Sep 2017
FTC Review ARC for University of Georgia Press and Net Galley
Description
Thaw delves into the issues at the core of a resilient family: kin ship, poverty, violence, death, abuse, and grief. The poems follow the speaker, as both mother and daughter, as she travels through harsh and beautiful landscapes in Canada, Sweden, and the United States. Moving through these places, she examines how her surroundings affect her inner landscape; the natural world becomes both a place of refuge and a threat. As these themes unfold, the histories and cold truths of her family and country intertwine and impinge on her, even as she tries to outrun them.
Unflinching and raw, Chelsea Dingman’s poems meander between childhood and adulthood, the experiences of being a mother and a child paralleling one another. Her investigation becomes one of body, self, woman, mother, daughter, sister, and citizen, and of what those roles mean in the contexts of family and country.
A Note From the Publisher
Chelsea Dingman is a graduate instructor at the University of South Florida.
My Thoughts
Thaw is a truly lovely collection of works. The author eloquently refines our existence by empowering nature's blessings to describe and protect us.