UNMET by stephanie roberts
Praise for UNMET
Restless, unsatisfied, deeply felt, and vividly accomplished, UNMET crackles with striking lines and images. Like the book’s title, these poems document divisive experience with forceful aspiration, remaining defiant in the face of complacency and injustice. Personal and political, this book is a journey and a love affair . . . nimbly travelling a hair-raising wire between desolation and beauty.
—David O’Meara, author of Masses on Radar
[roberts] points with deliciously layered language to the brutality, absurdity and hypocrisy of the systems of society and to our collective and historical inheritances. We are enticed and entrapped by her fluid writing, cutting in all the right places, daring us to wake up to the reality that surrounds. stephanie roberts operates as a disruptor with this effective collection that points to the times in which we live.
—Leslie Roach, author of Finish This Sentence
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about rushes from the river disappointment
roberts opens this collection by setting out to say what goes unsaid: “We agree without asking to say nothing about all this strident / confused unbelief.” In what could be a very navel-gazing wallow in wilted chances at love, the poet actually lays out the challenges of loving the self regardless of one’s relationship woes, and in so doing, extends that experience and encouragement to the reader who, she promises, will also be “in the book of god-awful poems.” Somewhere out there, the figures of roberts’ distress roam a tough, lonely landscape, but in here, in the pages of her collection, she and her readers find good company in each other. Vallum Magazine
sweeping force of music, pulsing images, clear wit, and tenderness. Within beautifully formed poems, there is extensive consideration of what we can understand about love and grief alongside faith and “unbelief ” over time. Montreal Review of Books
The book moves in a drowning rush of water, and gives a heady rush. The language surprises and the word choices are densely brocaded and sumptuous— “each spring a hesitation/the surface/of lindens throb ebonized by rain”. It has starkly staked its truths “because pain don’t care/what makes sense” […] It’s inspiring in form and content. ~ 49th Shelf “2020 Poetry Delights”
This collection enchanted me—smart, thoughtful, inventive, unafraid, poignant, and engaging, these poems are spot on. How lucky are we in this heartbreaking world to have roberts’ compelling voice of beauty, humor, and depth allowing us to dip our toes in this exquisite river of poems. ~ Kelli Russell Agodon, author of Hourglass Museum & The Daily Poet, editor, Two Sylvias Press
rushes from the river disappoinment (poems by stephanie roberts)
*Available* here McGill-Queen’s University Press
(signed copies here)
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You can also ask your local bookseller to order for this exciting collection.
49th Shelf names rushes from the river disappointment to their Most Anticipated: Spring 2020 Poetry Preview. February 9, 2020
pesbo, the poetry journal of Pearl Pirie, named rushes from the river disappointment to their Poetry to Look Forward To. January 27, 2020
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If you live overseas and would like to purchase, from the author, the available books please contact using the contact page and we will work out getting it to you.
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The Melting Potential of Fire is a contemplation of love within the challenges of freedom and competing solitudes. This lyrical collection of poems is part love letter, part travelogue. Set against the glowing landscape of Italy, it is full of the sights and sounds of the cities of Amalfi, Salerno, Furore, Capri, Rome, Florence and Incisa.The author was reading Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters To A Young Poet during these travels, and Rilke’s meditations on solitude influence these verses, illuminating the possibility and practicality of a long term love relationship lived primarily within a crucible of passion, and a belief that passion gives lovers the ability to transcend the natural barriers of solitude.
$24.99 US paperback/$5 US Kindle eBook available on Amazon here.
What People Are Saying About The Melting Potential of Fire on Amazon:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Richard
“This is an excellent collection of poems. With Christmas fast approaching, would make a superb gift, or buy to add to your personal library.”
5.0 out of 5 stars a vacation in prose, transporting the imagination, massaging the intellect, October 18, 2012
Wenzen: the melting potential of fire (Kindle Edition)
“A wonderful & delightful read, by what appears to be a generous offering, by a gifted writer, promising more to come. I found the reading to be an experiential bathing in sights, sounds, images, and realities…at times sublime, poignant, subtle, witty, humorous, playful, sombre, pensive, and challenging. At times what seemed to emerge in each passage were stories, characters, themes couched within the folds of verse…like children waiting to be born. No doubt here is a writer than we can expect to hear more from, and certainly hope to hear more from. A joy to read, a read that invites repetition. A surprise vacation for the internal senses, transporting,the soul, transcending the banal.”
5.0 out of 5 stars be transported by your senses, May 17, 2012
jlynn70
“Sit down with this book and an espresso or a glass of red wine, and you will be glad you did. The cover of the book is striking and begs you to open and read. Be transported with the author–her words will allow you to see, taste, touch, hear and smell the scenes she experienced in her travel through Italy. She also invites you into her deepest meditations about love and solitude, the descriptions of love are quite beautiful and sensual. I enjoyed the intimacy in which she allows the reader a window into her thoughts as she travels. If you are going to Italy, I would definitely recommend you take this book to read in your quiet times of relaxation. I plan to when I go someday!”
5.0 out of 5 stars Visions of Italy, April 19, 2012
Waverly(Virginia, USA)
“I received my copy of The Melting Potential of Fire yesterday and I haven’t put it down yet! Stephanie Roberts writes with a style and grace that brings the images of the lemon groves and wonderful smells and tastes alive. She captures the fun and frustration of being a tourist, but you also sense the ease she has in fitting in like a native Italian. There is a strong curiosity in her writing that takes you along her adventures throughout the book. I could see myself taking this with me on a trip to Italy.”
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oceans and fire 
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