This collection, which honors bipolar disorder, social anxiety, Joan of Ark and the right to choose, also finds the courage to ask the right questions between all these things. Perhaps the same questions that live between generations and siblings and children and parents. These poems are fearless and full of the longing for connection of all kinds. You can find your own heart here and good company and new questions to companion you well.
In Emily’s poems the magical dances with the density of human flesh and the games of childhood. They also invite us into a loneliness that is part of even the sweetest relationships and assures us that here we are not alone. Grandmothers, Joan of Ark and social anxiety all teach us something about ourselves and our own life’s questions. These poems are teachers, guides and comforters. I am grateful for them all.
–Carol Kapaun Ratchenski, Author of A Beautiful Hell, New Rivers Press, 2016 and A Certain Kind of Forgiveness, 2019, Meadowlark Press.
“With an intricate weaving of experiences, language, imagery, and description, Emily Vieweg transports readers of but the flames into her private world, offering glimpses of the female experience and what it means to be a woman with all its facets. This collection of poems is at times funny and at times poignant enough to draw tears, but always Vieweg’s writing is honest and real, challenging us to contemplate our own experiences with a deeper understanding.”
–Kaecey McCormick, Poet Laureate, City of Cupertino, CA (2018-2020
In Emily Vieweg’s but the flames, we move between family and the familiar, between four-leaf clovers and French fries to what amazing adventures/those jeans and t-shirt could confess. Conversational, engaging, and never boring, Vieweg isn’t afraid to tackle any topic, to share what others stray away from. She documents the details of our lives but always with a smart slant: Tomorrow I’ll figure out/what today was supposed to be. But the flames reminds us pay attention to the world taking place around us through energizing poems—a deeply honest and authentic collection that is brave, bold, and absolutely wonderful.
–Kelli Russell Agodon, author of Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon Press)
In “but the flames,” Vieweg finds the exotic (the “fire”) in the everyday and reveals an examined life. She finds the beauty within and without and all around. Through her verse, she polishes an ordinary day and makes it extraordinary. Throughout, Vieweg has an eye for detail. Through her, we’ll truly see.
–Kevin Rabas, Poet Laureate of Kansas, 2017-2019, Elizabeth’s City
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