Taut Caesuras by Pamela Moore Dionne

A caesura is a pause in a line of poetry using the rhythms of natural speech rather than of meter. In Taut Caesuras, Dionne uses pauses to bring home the mighty punches of addiction, of loss, of biological predispositions, and ultimately enlightenment.

–Sheila Bender, A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief

“Part eulogy, part interrogation, in the poems of Taut Caesuras Dionne stares down the familial ravages of mental illness and the fragility of the body. Are our genetics prophecy or opportunity? How much of our suffering is in the mind and in our history? Harnessing the power of multiple poetic forms, Dionne urges the reader to reconsider just how much free will we actually have against the brain’s demands. But more importantly, how do we love well despite ourselves?”

–Lauren Davis, author of Each Wild Thing’s Consent

The last line of her final poem, Mt. Elinor, could be an epigraph for Pamela Moore Dionne’s entire collection …by the time I reach you/I’ve considered/what I’ve done to save myself.

What Ms.Dionne has done, is place the pickaxe of her intellect and memory into personal experience. The emotions contained within these carefully crafted poems build and infuse this brilliant collection. We climb our way with her through formal sestinas, pantoums, and other verse just skirting the edge of terror and grief.  A crown of sonnets details her adored brother’s life and suicide. Another poem describes the birth of a grandchild with a devastating disease. This collection gathers a taut wisdom that is earned through the exploding intellect and tenacious restraint of a survivor. As Dionne says, “Each of us breathes, the now that we are given.”  We can all learn and grow from reading these fine poems.

–Gayle Kaune, author Noise from Stars and All the Birds Awake