Description
Poetry. IN A WHITE PAGE DEMANDS ITS LETTERS, Toni Ortner records the pain of divorce and other loss. The poetic cycle, "Dream Sequence," placed here in chronological order, has a raw intensity that strikes the reader like a knife in the heart. The poet must invent a new self in order to survive. The book is a sequel to Traveling, a Perspective, published by Kelsay Press.
"Toni Ortner's chapbook, A WHITE PAGE DEMANDS ITS LETTERS, reflects a mature poet who has grown into her wisdom. Ortner is at the height of her powers as she casts her critical eye from Zen to war and the holocaust. The work ranges from dense prose poems of family life to short haiku–like pieces devastating in simplicity: ("and life was not a cracked shell / with a dead embryo / a trickle of blood"). A WHITE PAGE DEMANDS ITS LETTERS is a treat to be savored on those long nights when nothing satisfies as deeply as finely–wrought poetry. —Betsy Snider
Author Bio
Toni Ortner, who lives in Putney, Vermont is the author of 20 poetry books and a memoir. Her recent writing as well as reviews of her work can be viewed on vermontviews.org at the Old Lady Blog. Toni is widely published. Her previous book for Mayapple Press, As if Anything Could Grow Back Perfect, is a chapbook which came out in 1979. During the last two years she has published Writing with Our Blood, Don't Sit Shiva for Me, Currents We Never Dream Of, Water Poems, Traveling: a Perspective, and Jeopardy. End Rhymes for End Times and Stories We Tell Ourselves to Survive (with original art work) will be published in 2017. Toni hosts the Write Action Radio Hour on WVEW l07.7 FM, Brattleboro, VT. On the monthly show she interviews writers and they read their work. She gives readings at bookstores and libraries.
Author City: PUTNEY, VT USA