The depths of poetry

Who can recall penning a poem of broken-hearted, unrequited love after their first young romance? Likely, many can identify. Perhaps this explains why poetry reading and writing is a powerful form of therapy, allowing the listener or writer to work through feelings in a less threatening way than talking about them. William Wordsworth once said, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” 

Hansel’s collection, Coal Town Photograph, (Dos Madres Press, $17), is a coming-of-age picture of life in Appalachia. Descriptive imagery in poems such as Visit to Cutshin Creek, 1968 transports readers to time and place, where they can almost see the breeze move the curtains of the open window and hear the crunch of the gravel under truck tires just outside. 

The poems progress through the discovery of becoming a woman, learning to accept change and becoming one’s own person. Pieces such as The Claiming process difficult choices about leaving a homeplace that, looking back, perhaps never really felt like home after all. 

Daniel’s collection, Depths of the Soul, (Creative Talents Unleashed, $14.95), provides introspection into self-worth, hearts that have been hurt and lessons on looking beyond appearance. 

May Contain Cubic Zirconia encourages women not to discount their worth for the sake of being appealing to a man, cleverly employing imagery of sales tags and express checkouts to make the point. Yet, Inside reveals the loneliness that sometimes comes with being single and questions, “Where’s mine?” On a bright note, Daniel’s love for her nephew shines mightily in You and I as she recalls the day he was born. 

Daniel, a consumer-member of South Kentucky RECC, resides in Windsor. She also enjoys photography and drawing. 

Hansel currently calls Cincinnati home, though she was raised in southeastern Kentucky. Coal Town Photograph is her seventh poetry collection. You can connect with her at here.