by Vivienne Shalom (Author)
The voice behind the collection of poems, The Truth Is, knows well the complicated relationships children have with their parents, especially the relationship daughters have with their mothers. In poems that span the years from being a child to being an adult, from the time her mother "carries me off/to put on pajamas," until the poet understands that her mother must "make the voyage alone/while we remain at shore," we are privileged to see how the poet taps into memory with fact and image, how she values both past and present, how, like the poet Yevtushenko, she shows us that "no life is uninteresting" and she, too, makes her "lament against destruction." For the poet's mother at the end of life, words "don't make/ sentences the way they used to/...and veer off into distant rooms." The words in these poems are precise, poignant, and poised between sadness and joy. They return us to our own distant rooms, allowing us a chance for exploration. --Anita Skeen, Judge of Jonathan Holden Poetry Chapbook Contest