Kyle Potvin is a brave, smart poet. Brave enough to take on difficult and downright frightening subject matter, and smart enough to know when and how formal verse can provide a safe structure for doing just that. Whether evoking loss through the memory of a dead loved one or dancing literally and figuratively with a child in the dark, these poems are haunted by cancer, persistent as a wave. Through sonnets, villanelles, and free-verse, Potvin dares take on tumors, chemo, and a woman with hairless head; on the highway, she takes on cancer itself, riding in the car behind her. Even sphere-shaped fruit inspires a certain angst, until “hope travels / Like sound on water.” Bravo for this poet who fears love might be lost like a glove slipped from a pocket, but savors the idea of her life’s last bite, be it carrots or cream or a T-bone steak. “I’ll take what you bring,” she dares this world, “And devour each bite.”
— Meg Kearney
Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]
Beneath Kyle Potvin‘s capable pen, simple objects (soup, a bike ride, a wave, a jellyfish etc.) transform to wonderful metaphors. The speaker in these poems is a modern woman dealing with cancer, being a mother, a wife, a professional woman. The language in the poems is spare, crafted, clear — the form, mostly formal with a scattering of free verse. Issues of mortality run through many of the poems, but they are never somber or depressing. If there is a sense of chaos here, form contains it. If there is despair (but there is never despair), there is also acceptance, appreciation for life, and “hope that travels like sound on water.” I read these strong poems three times; I will surely read them many more.
— Patricia Fargnoli
Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]
Most poets who attempt poetry about tragedies, both personal and global, are satisfied with using the subject itself to do most of the heavy lifting—as if just mentioning the word “war” or “cancer” is sufficient to carry the reader along. Kyle Potvin isn’t satisfied with this kind of easy victory. Her poems, with humor, grace and metaphor, allow the reader to accompany her into a deeper understanding of what it’s like to confront cancer. Of course there is much more in her work to admire than poems about cancer. She tackles the familiar subjects of family, food, and even laundry, with wit and, again, an ability to make the commonplace a door into something universal and deeply moving. There is much beneath the surface here. Dive in.
–Robert W. Crawford
Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]
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