Yaya's Cloth

By Andrea Potos

Book Overview

Like a Mona Lisa smile, the lives of preceding generations are only partially revealed to us, tantalizing in their slim facts and shadowy contours. In Yaya's Cloth, Andrea Potos searches and deepens... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0916078655
• ISBN13: 9780916078652
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Iris Press
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Yaya's Cloth

Poto's weaves a fabric of the future out of the past. Poems of her Greek heritage, vivid memories of her grandmother blend into a trip back to Greece to explore those roots. Her poems speak of her family's life in Milwaukee and evolve into her motherhood. A delightful and accessible book of poems built from generations, island spices and honey.

Transcendent, compelling

This collection of poems pulls at the heartstrings. Potos' acute memory for details unveils the depth of a family tragedy, an empty place setting holding vigil in her Yaya's heart. Yet through the strength, beauty and love of family woven into matrilineal Greek traditions, the reader catches a glimpse of how the dark corridors of grief can be healed into the future generations.

Beautiful poetry

Anyone with a Greek heritage (or any heritage) would appreciate the beauty in the author's writing. Very personal and very touching.

Engaging, memorable, insightful

Andrea Potos' grandmother, who we meet in these poems, is a woman I would love to have known. In some dimensions she is everyone's grandmother -- a source of warmth, unconditional love, and homemade food. But her story is much larger and more complex. Yaya immigrated to the U.S. as a young woman speaking no English. She gave up home, family, and her beloved mandolin to start a new life. Her courage was further tested a few years later when her young son died in a household accident. Potos' poems hint at Yaya's anguish and celebrate her perseverance. Giving voice to Yaya's inner world, Potos reveals a character of strength and grace who we will long remember. These poems are clear and appealing, rich in imagery and color. Potos excels at unveiling essence, searching not only the stories of family history but also their resonance in thought, their spiritual legacy. Yaya would be astonished to find herself in the limelight, but the reader will find she is very worthy of attention and even veneration.