$14.99
Shoshana Cote’s first book of poems, Favorite Auntie Emu, embodies both a diversity of theme and a true consistency of voice. There is always a story woven between her heart, her throat and a prayer, cloaking layers of meaning: Forced to ruminate silence/among the smooth,/ the liars dressed in silk. When I read her poems, I feel as if I am sitting next to her through each stanza. Her work often surprises me; I like being surprised by what I read — it slows me down, I breathe differently: My favorite door is falling snow;/ my favorite day is equinox. Something hovers at the edges of her words that pulls us into our own mysteries like the logic of two knives of bent/echo and jasper and rue. Cote also knows her Bible, her Jacob, her Simon, her Elisha, all of whom accompany her on these meditative journeys: I drag my pen across the desert/of this thirst,/the letters stumbling. Deeply connected to both the earth and to the far horizon, Cote tells us that What bright surround will frame the image/depends on the tree/that grounds you. Beautiful and mysterious work.
-Becky Dennison Sakellariou, author of Earth Listening, What Shall I Cry? and Gathering the Soft.
“My favorite song is yes,” writes Shoshana Cote in this striking debut collection. And the generosity suggested by that phrase infuses each poem in Favorite Auntie Emu, even when the ache of experience answers the stunned beauty of the natural world with silence, a silence that limns the lines with grace. “Honesty like this is hard earned, as is the faith that has escorted these lovely poems into the light.”
-James Harms, who chairs the Department of English at West Virginia University and is the author of Comet Scar and the forthcoming The Only Lie Worth Telling: New and Selected Poems (along with several other books of poetry)
Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]
Favorite Auntie Emu
by Shoshana J. Coté
$14.99, paper
Shoshana J. Coté earned her MFA at New England College. She teaches writing in New Hampshire at River Valley Community College and counts herself blessed to do work she loves in a beautiful and inspiring part of the country. Her poetry and related work can be found in The 2010 Poets’ Guide to New Hampshire, Poetry International Online, Visions Unlimited 2015 and Visions Unlimited 2016.
Jennifer –
I truly enjoyed reading Favorite Auntie Emu. It was relaxing in a longing type of way. I am enjoying reading it again, getting new nuggets of enjoyment from it. Although I am not a poet and poetry is a difficult genre for me, the way she writes is smooth as velvet, yet has a little warm savory spice to it. I look forward to reading more of her books.
Lacey E. Cote –
As a child I had the immense pleasure of getting to listen to my mothers poems over the years. This book is honestly some of the best poems that I’ve ever read and its quite possible that it is because I grew up with the author. I understand the perspective she wrote from and in a smilar but different way understand what she, what we as a family went through with F.A.S. However my favorite poem is “Ordinary Ears”. I remember my mom telling me this story when I was little and the peom brought it to life for me all over again.