NH Poetry: Slipstream

Deborah Brown is a professor of English at UNH-Manchester who lives in Warner. Her most recent book is Walking the Dog's Shadow (BOA Editions, 2011) which won the 2011 New Hampshire Literary Award for Outstanding Book of Poetry.

"Slipstream by Carol Westberg is the book by a NH poet that I recommend. It was published last year by David Roberts press and nominated for a NH Literary Award. The poems are literate, lyrical, honest and thoughtful, as well as a pleasure to read." --Deborah Brown

Deborah also brought this to my attention:

"Carol Westberg's Slipstream is that true rarity among first books: there is no over-determined lyricism, no look-ma-no-hands, in short, no wetness behind the ears. The collection is a product of and a testimony to human maturity. One of its most memorable poems is entitled 'Map of Uncertain Soundings,' and the very title suggests all that is sublime in this apparently modest book. The author's world, like all of ours, is rife with uncertainty: the complexities of love, romantic and familial; the agony of aging parents and sometimes refractory children; the difficulty sometimes of merely showing up. And yet, by dint precisely of the maturity I mentioned, Westberg uncannily provides us with a navigational map: her keen eye, big heart, and sure ear offer a sort of assurance to her reader. We may all be mere hounds baying at the moon much of the time, but when we can muster the sort of insight and valor betokened by Slipstream, which of us will deny that life is a fine thing altogether?" --Sydney Lea

This post is part of our celebration of National Poetry Month 2012 for which I asked New Hampshire poets and booksellers to recommend books of poetry by Granite State poets. These titles are generally available from local booksellers and may be held in public libraries as well.