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4.5
Poet Fennelly's approach to motherhood is exquisitely intimate, yet accessible as she explores the deep emotions that burst free when a woman gives birth, defining the indefinable, expressing thoughts that most are afraid to acknowledge, let alone put into words.Truly, motherhood unearths a vast reservoir of visceral feelings, both familiar and unfamiliar; yet Fennelly writes in such a way as to expose that sensitive emotional underbelly suddenly made vulnerable. In language both simple and profound, these poems celebrate the joy of a child's complete dependency, the sensation of newborn skin and sharp pain at the merest thought of loss. This poet mines language until it serves up the desired effect, plunging into private thoughts and fears with a passionate intensity:"The great dramas all begin like this:a surfeit of happiness, a glass-smooth pondjust begging for a stone."Harrowing, erotic and blissful, Fennelly pushes beyond the sentimental into the bittersweet experience of new motherhood. The poet explores both joy and loss, birth and death, as she celebrates her daughter, Claire, yet grieves the loss of one she lost, another girl, probing those feelings like a tongue testing a tender tooth, aware that life's realities are not to be denied. Tender Hooks (a childish misnomer of "tenterhooks") fills me with images and awakened feelings, a quiet excitement at having found this wonderful poet. I cannot imagine that I might have missed this stunning collection. Luan Gaines/2004.
