Poiema: Poems by D.S. Martin

Each of these poems makes you want to descend to its heart and discover the precious metal there. D. S. Martin knows how to evoke the mystery that lies beneath the relationships we have with ourselves, each other, and God. This is skillful and probing poetry. - Luci Shaw; author of What the Light Was Like Praise for So the Moon Would Not Be Swallowed (Award of Merit-2008-The Word Guild) This little chapbook took me by surprise, with poem after poem shocking with rattling expectations for the reader in a way at least somewhat mimetic of the harrowing circumstances described. The final three lines of 'Good Housekeeping' will serve as an example of poems that are disturbing, strong, taut. By keeping the collection to one cycle of poems, the poet has left us wanting more--much more. The historic realities that are underlying add a dimension of gravitas, as does the fact that these stories continue through the decades since. This is strong writing with a distinctive voice. -Maxine Hancock, author and professor at Regent College, Vancouver My only regret about this collection was that it wasn't longer. -Violet Nesdoly, Utmost Christian Writers This is what poetry can do: take volumes of letters and locate the kernels, distil years of details with subtlety and a tolerance for ambiguity, stay faithful to the historical record and retell a compelling story. -Hannah Main-van der Kamp, in Faith Today; author of According to Loon Bay