Green
Cover art, Frank Valvano
Green (Finishing Line Press, 2016)
How can a memory be both subtle and vibrant at the same time? Green, a one-poem chapbook by Theresa Senato Edwards, reveals the answer. Green tells the story of the relationship between MM and her grandson as it moves back and forth through time; and we are offered a glimpse into their lives through their story, a story many of us have lived.
It was easy to become lost in my own memories while I read Green, and to float among the images that were carried on the currents of my mind was a true gift. Though green and blue dominate its pages, the pastel hues of lilacs, honeysuckle, and roses adorn its pages as well; and their scents, their scents permeated the air as I recalled these same flowers in vases on the window sills, tables, and desks of my grandmothers, a great aunt, and in my mother’s home.
Other images returned to me as well as I moved through the poem. Its fireflies on a hot summer evening, fruited ice cream, daffodils, raw onions, soft blankets, “a root cellar under the kitchen,” and walking through rooms filled with memories, were all things I shared with Green.
To write a poem of such depth and breadth requires a tremendous amount of skill, dedication, and patience; and Theresa Senato Edwards has excelled in this endeavor. I would recommend this book to anyone who longs to recall cherished moments from their past. ~ O.P.W. Fredericks
I truly enjoyed reading and mulling over Edwards' carefully constructed short lines within this lovingly rendered 24-page story poem, focusing on small but unique and impactful family memories of old plants growing inside new eyes, of "blood spots seeping through / the indexes," of a youthful mind's ever growing library: parts of the stacks rising and evolving, parts of the stacks worried about losing their vibrancy, growing stale, and falling down. ~ Juliet Cook
Theresa Senato Edwards is one of my favorite living writers, and Green may be her best work yet. Having recently lost my mother and feeling like I’m on the verge of losing someone else I love as much, I find myself returning to this chapbook as I would a good friend to share grief and fond remembrance. And though immersed in loss, I somehow find my life less wan and my loving richer. ~ John Burroughs
Cover art, Bill Ripley
Green (Another New Calligraphy, 2015)
SOLD OUT/OUT OF PRINT
Theresa Senato Edwards does not have the answer to the riddle of sorrow, but does provide an emotive metaphor for the process of grieving and the prospect of hope in her narrative long-form poem, Green. A young man's experiences in his grandmother's house help him to realize his grief in the strange and simple, yet altogether profound manner that befits a man exploring his life and the love that it contains. This poignant story is accompanied by the author's reinterpretation of a piano sonata movement written by herself and recorded some thirty years ago, a metaphor itself for the longevity of warm remembrances. ~ Bill Ripley
