Thunderstorm by Heather Bryant

“There is in these poems the sentiment of a romantic, one who keeps a sixpence given by her father, “a pregnancy stick that turned blue,” the hospital tags worn when her twins were born and a daughter’s Mother’s Day gifts. Indeed motherhood looms large in these poems–the love received from one’s own and the love bestowed to one’s children. So many of these poems return to that theme, “March Snow, Pine Boughs” is one of the most poignant, as is “Feeding America” in which the speaker is haunted by her mother’s final (and never answered) phone message left on her answering machine– “she had something important to tell me.” The speaker in these poems sees her own growth from toddler to wife and mother and beyond on to “Wanderer.” Thunderstorm calls up the suddenness with which life can change; there is the awakening, “the unexplained gap,” the need to “stem the damage,” the allusion to an abusive relationship and infidelity, the death of parents. There is loss and the recovery from loss–both seen through the lens of nature and in the metaphor of place. The path to self-reliance and recovery is in the mountains and in wildflowers galore, flourishing–Queen Anne’s Lace, lavender, goldenrod, yellow tulips, flaming azaleas, lilacs–and it’s in the trees: greening willows, Vermont Maples, English chestnut.

–Mary Bonina, author of Clear Eye Tea and the memoir, My Father’s Eyes

“Thunderstorm, Heather Bryant‘s fifth volume and second full-length collection, completes the trajectory of her previous volume, My Wedding Dress, with rich ruminations on personal relationships under the pressure of time. In this sequence of poems, the designer of the wedding dress reveals herself to be a Calypso in an analogical odyssey of self-discovery. Seasons, anniversaries, and holidays provoke memories of parents, marriage, and children and transport the speaker into complex lost worlds. Even when such journeys seem futile, as in ‘The Road to Nowhere, Swain County, ‘ or painful, as in ‘Camera Oscura, ‘ the memories remain poignant and useful. Even a journey ‘Somewhere on a Dark Road in the Middle of Nowhere’ brings stirrings of renewal and hopes for reaching home. Bryant’s distinguished collection ranges far in its quest for meaning but remains rooted in nature, family, and lived experience, rounding back to Pennsylvania in its final and title poem, “Thunderstorm,” which faces old fears and rediscovers ‘sweetness and irony’ even in a universe of unfriendly gods.”

–Paul Fisher, Associate Professor of American Studies, Wellesley College, and author of House of Wits: An Intimate Portrait of the James Family