Origin by Jennifer Hurley

These poems search for elemental connections and find them in startling places—a lover’s freckled flesh suggests nebulae and galaxies; a dog’s empty skull becomes a means to hear the ocean; and a stained note beneath a coffee mug resembles a fawn’s spotted hide. Locking hands with the need to be “different—and the same,” these limber poems leap into the surf, where unity could be lost but it’s not. Jennifer Hurley’s amazing first collection breathes underwater and holds us, in a firm, “instinctual grip.”
–Shari Wagner, Indiana Poet Laureate, author of The Harmonist at Nightfall

Jennifer Hurley’s lovely and lyrical lines often focus upon the origins found in family and the familiar landscapes framing our lives, supplying subtly insightful images in evocative language that always rewards readers with engaging and enriching poetry.
–Edward Byrne, author of eight published collections of poetry, including Tidal Air (Pecan Grove Press), Seeded Light (Turning Point Books), and Tinted Distances (Turning Point Books).

In her debut collection, Jennifer Hurley writes of familial and relational love in a way that is sharp without cutting, poignant without lapsing into sentimentality, as in the first poem titled “Grandmother,” “how she’d touch the tips/of her long fingers to mine, knowing she said/I love you when she really meant to say oceans.” Both intimate and expansive, these poems shine with musicality and superb imagery.
–Marci Rae Johnson, author of Basic Disaster Supplies Kit

In Origin, Jennifer Hurley has crafted 22 poems that resonate with evocative language, memorable metaphors, and striking images. Each poem meshes with the others in the collection, mirroring relationships that reveal the narrator.
–JL Kato, President of Brick Street Poetry Inc. and poetry editor of The Flying Island Online Literary Journal.

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]