Description
“The poems in Steady are narratives, persona poems and portraits, and lyrics. In writing them, I have tried to hold steady, so steadiness might connect them like a bridge. Steadiness is a quality most appreciated in old age when it becomes more elusive. My narrative poems about Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Lee Miller, Iris Origo, Ruth Asawa, and Imogen Cunningham are the result of years of engagement with their lives and their works. The separate events of “An Art Story” coalesced into a narrative with overlapping voices. Ideas may come from my own backyard or half a world away; from snatches of stories recounted, read, or observed; people known or glimpsed in passing; events of the past resurfacing into the present. I continue to find inspiration in cycles of the seasons; the lives of plants and animals; our beloved, fragile earth. The arrow of time moves in one direction. Poetry finds in the music of words and shaded meanings a space for contemplation, with windows and mirrors looking outward and inward, inviting us back.“—Anne Whitehouse
Poetry.
“Whitehouse’s poetry serves as a meditation and act of praise for all the various subjects that color our collective world. She chronicles the experience of being present on this earth… Through exploring the waves of life–the way we are often lifted up emotionally then quickly
lowered back down– there is a growing gratitude for the constant back and forth of joy and grief and the way that inevitably occupies our life.”—Laura Salvatore
“If form and language are metered, the intensity is not. It’s precisely this mature passion that ignites Whitehouse’s work, echoing a lifetime of experience and observation… Now, more than ever, we need poetry for strength and solace. Whitehouse’s contemplative talismans transport the reader to a place where, hopefully, ‘Your mistakes will force you/beyond imagination/to something new.’”—Ilka Scobie
“It takes a lifetime to write such poems.”—Hilary Sideris
Author Bio
Steady is Anne Whitehouse's fourth poetry collection published by Dos Madres Press, following THE REFRAIN (2012), METEOR SHOWER (2016), and OUTSIDE FROM THE INSIDE (2020). Her other poetry collections are Blessings and Curses (Poetic Matrix Press, 2009) and The Surveyor's Hand (Compton Press, 1981); three chapbooks from Ethel Zine and Micro Press: Frida (2023), Escaping Lee Miller (2021) and Surrealist Muse (2020), and two from Finishing Line Press: One Sunday Morning (2011) and Bear in Mind (2010). She is the author of a novel, Fall Love, available in Spanish translation as Amigos y amantes, as well as short stories, essays, feature articles, and reviews. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she divides her time between New York City and Columbia County, New York.
Author City: NEW YORK, NY USA