Daphne Lifts Up by Donna Emerson

What delight awaits the reader of Donna L. Emerson’s newest collection, Daphne Lifts Up. In these 57 poems, Emerson delineates moments of exquisite beauty and tenderness as well as glimpses of life’s casual cruelties. The effect is stunning; for example, “I Was Raised on Love” describes the speaker’s father as “a loving man . . . rarely there,” plays this contradiction out poignantly and readies us for a later poem (“In the Blue Room”) where the poet prepares herself and her father for his death.  The book has a chronological frame within an emotional one. From poem to poem, the emphasis is on the poet’s eye and heart which work together to praise and ultimately accept all that life offers—pastures, forests, homes, water, family. There is fire that destroys, but there is fire that brings growth. The imagery is rich and the settings evocative. This is poetry that welcomes all and provides a tough and durable comfort.

–Deirdre Neilen, PhD,Editor, The Healing Muse

This Daphne asserts her power. She is not a victim of misogyny. I see her sense of self, her power to endure, and her bond with those who might sometimes think they are using her. Without her, who would they even be?

I love how Donna Emerson tells hard truths without bitterness. I am deeply impressed about the way the land itself comes alive in these poems. No matter how intellectual and wise she can be, she is so of this earth. I mean this as a compliment, the biggest compliment I know.

–Susan Bono, author, What Have We Here: Essays About Keeping House and FindingHome www.susanbono.com

Donna Emerson is an extraordinary poet of ordinary life, revealing intimate details of her and her family’s relationships. Her poems are intensely personal, yet resonate with us all. The language is spattered with color; music, art and nature trigger emotions throughout. It’s a collection of recent poems and some of her best work over a number of years. Family is the constant thread that ties the wide-ranging “Daphne Lifts Up” together. “She Lay Asleep, Wearing Oxygen” recounts the scene during Emerson’s mother’s passing, told with a seasoned reporter’s feel for detail and the power of an accomplished poet’s craft.

 —Geoffrey Link, Editor and Publisher of the San Francisco Study Center Press

Grounded firmly in the realm of human relationships, Donna Emerson’s powerfully personal poems bring us into the life of the heart and heart-held memory, offering intimate depictions of a world alive with family and friends. Of her many poems about her mother, “She Lay Asleep,” is an especially poignant account of her mother’s illness and death. While wisely reminding us that loss waits at the last shore of love, the poems of Daphne Lifts Up vividly celebrate a life of enduring connections.

–Elizabeth C. Herron, PhD, Sonoma County Poet Laureate, 2022-24