The Blue Dress

by Alison Townsend

Book Overview

In this quiet, clear-eyed collection, Townsend meditates on loss--childhood bereavement, depression, divorce--to arrive at the realization that it is through loss that we come to possess some of life's most profound gifts.

"The project of Alison Townsend's poetry is to chart a course through the deepest of losses--to attempt some safe passage through a lifetime's erasures. Intimate, warm and observant, this book involves us in the inscription...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1893996611
• ISBN13: 9781893996618
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: White Pine Press (NY)
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

This a good collection to own

This is a good collection to own, along with Ohio Blue Tips by Jeanne E. Clark and The Photos In The Closet by Daniel E. Lopez.

Dazzling honesty and writing skill

I don't know how she writes about the physical ache, the terrible bruise in a young girl's heart who is picking out the dress for her mother to be buried in. How can she know this exact pain and write about it in such a way that the words heal? Townsend uses both poetry and prose poems in this collection to display her grasp of both feeling and craft. There are lots of other skillfully distilled moments-- some sad, some giddy with the pure intensity of a remembrance (read "My Life as a Horse") in this book to show that she has a dazzling amount of both in abundance.Poetry that can express what I have felt simmering inside me and have longed to say is a treasure, so I have to say this book is a treasure chest of such deeply felt and elegantly articulated writing that I am grateful.Don't be surprised if you buy several copies to give to your friends.