The running theme through the collection Wave as If You Can See Me is the progression of illnesses resulting in the death of the poet's husband, fiction writer Scott Ely, from the effects of Agent Orange in Vietnam. Interspersed with these poems are her own explorations-in part distraction from the pain of watching her husband's decline, in part a long-held desire-into painting.
***
****
(@RedHenPress, 13 October 2020, ebook, 72 pages, #ARC from @edelweiss_squad and voluntarily reviewed)
***
***
I'd never heard of the poet before. I liked the cover and I'm always on the lookout for new poetic voices. I really enjoyed every poem in this collection. Much of the poems on offer here focus on the long illness and eventual death of the poet's husband. These poems are person and intense at times. I felt almost intrusive reading them like peeking over someone's shoulder to read the diary. It's not all sadness though and many of the poems explore the idea of healing from grief and finding solace especially in the natural world. The best poems are Woman at the Window, Darker Than Before, We Learn How The Brain Can Be Tricked and Prism.
