{"product_id":"first-poems-after-the-stroke-paperback-1","title":"first poems after the stroke - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eShanan Ballam\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Then it was over: that which you fear, being\/ a soul and unable\/ to speak;\" these lines by Louise Gl?ck might serve to suggest the power of \u003cstrong\u003eShanan Ballam\u003c\/strong\u003e's luminous first poems after the stroke-language as the soul's release, healing energy driving these poems of damage and recovery. Her observant gaze turns always outward to nature: its unfolding, its flowering, the way things turn toward light-nature's transformations assuring her own: \"I am a monarch\/butterfly who will emerge\/ with wet wings jeweled\/with dew...\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Eleanor Wilner\u003c\/strong\u003e author of \u003cem\u003eBefore Our Eyes: New and Selected Poems 1975-2017\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmong the last things one might expect from a person who has suffered a massive stroke, even from a gifted young poet like \u003cstrong\u003eShanan Ballam\u003c\/strong\u003e, would be a distinguished chapbook of poems. \u003cem\u003efirst poems after the stroke\u003c\/em\u003e doesn't ask for our sympathy: it spurs a sympathetic vibration that kindles intense empathy. Ballam creates strands of richly evocative imagery from the natural world around her, beautiful in themselves but also handholds on her fierce climb out of paralysis, pain, and the \"cobwebs of aphasia.\" This chapbook is a work of heroism as well as breathtaking poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-William Trowbridge\u003c\/strong\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eCall Me Fool\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese poems spiral, following the ancient seats of knowledge from the belly to the brain and to the heart. They are beautiful poems of pain, courage and healing that are witness to the human capacity at its best to rise above suffering and explode into hope and joy. I loved reading these poems, and on reflection realize I haven't used that verb regarding a new book of poetry in quite a long while...I will stand on that as my final reaction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-David Lee, \u003c\/strong\u003e First Poet Laureate of Utah and author of \u003cem\u003eMine Tailings\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eRusty Barbed Wire: Selected Poems\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 40\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.1 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 31, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52729681871155,"sku":"9798888385715","price":32.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/GCcZex8Ovm9798888385715_242d44ba-483b-4990-a93d-2bad8f913460.webp?v=1763816170","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/en-ca\/products\/first-poems-after-the-stroke-paperback-1","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}