Paradox and Illusion by Pamela Moore Dionne

 

In her poem “Pleiades,” Dionne writes,

 

“We pirouette like comets,

free spiraling through atmospheres

we create and interrupt, leaving shallow

footprints in our wake.”

 

“To read the poems in Paradox and Illusion is to be swept into such a pirouette and to spiral from what is ordinary into transformative landscapes, sexual energy, even the spheres of the universe, leaving, of course, barely a trace.”

–Sheila Bender, author of Behind Us the Way Grows Wider.

 

“Saturating the senses, Paradox and Illusion explores a woman’s marriage to the land, to the beloved, to the intricate and defining patterns of science that we cannot escape. This is a collection of praise measured by grief, as Dionne leads us to the moon, to the earth, and then back to the sky. I would take this journey with her a thousand times.”

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

 

This poet is pulled from the house to confront and experience the world as it is: an endless sky meeting a mountain range, galaxies, bird glimmer, ashes; the mysteries and thrumming of a long marriage. Your moment when it finds you, she tells us, will bring you to your knees, and you feel her authority is well earned. She’s trod the pathless path on her roan. She’s entered the first language of shadow, rain, and bones and returned with stolen fire.

–Kathryn Hunt, author of Long Way Through Ruin

 

Interview on Pif Magazine :  https://www.pifmagazine.com/2020/12/a-conversation-with-pamela-dionne/