The Soul Mate Poems by Kristine Hartvigsen

You may know someone in this book. In fact, you might be in this book. The men—and women—who fill this book are crushes and soulmates and midlife besties and the occasional fellow you’d risk a morning walk of shame for. It’s all numbers, not names, and just enough detail to make you wonder. A boy old enough for a Stoli and a man who cooks by ear, they’re both here.  A catalogue of crushes, a natural history of noticing, these are portrait poems, some poignant, some punchy, some impossible, all beads strung on a line of prose reflections that make you smile to think about your own secret history.

–Ed Madden is a professor of English at the University of South Carolina and served as Poet Laureate for the City of Columbia from 2015 to 2022.

Kristine Hartvigsen‘s poems, part micro-memoir, part lyric, part palm “on the curve where hip meets buttock,” ultimately choose us. We never forget soul mates and how the “empty chalice echo truths” in a world of sensation, disappointment, and joy.” These poems arouse expectancy, explore attraction’s belonging, and peer across the room with courage and heart. You’ll find yourself on the list.

–Tim Conroy, author of Theologies of Terrain (2017, Muddy Ford Press Laureate Series) and founding board member of the Pat Conroy Literary Center

Kristine Hartvigsen‘s new book is a delight. Her poems (and stories) take the reader on a poetic ride through her life of love and adventure. It covers the gambit of her creative life, her love of poetry and music, and introduces the reader to friends past and present. The Soul Mate Poems are not to be missed.

–Jane Zenger, author of Night Bloomer (2022, Muddy Ford Press Laureate Series).

Kristine Hartvigsen‘s The Soul Mate Poems is a must read for lonely hearts who want to learn how to recognize their soul mate at a dog park or in a checkout line at Big Lots. Kristine says what many won’t. There is no 1 in 3 billion soul mates that you need to find to be happy. If you know Kristine, buy this book and see if you made her list.

–Al Black, author of I Only Left For Tea (2014, Muddy Ford Press) and Man With Two Shadows (2018, Muddy Ford Press), and he was named Columbia’s Literary Artist of the Year by Jasper Magazine in ____.