Thursday, December 28, 2017

Landlocked review

I wrote this back in the early summer and never got around to posting it... There's some good poems here. The author has been a part of a writing group that I participate with in Savannah.


Danelle Lejeune, “Landlocked: Etymology of Whale-fish and Grace (Georgetown, KY: Finishing Line Press, 107) 65 pages


This is a delightful book of poems with wonderful images of bees, cooking, chores around the farm and home, children, secrets, broken relationships, and new horizons.  Lejeune, the child of Cajun parents, draws from her roots in Louisiana, across the Midwest including time on a hog farm in Iowa where her children were born, and on to the coastal plain of Georgia where she now lives.  Many of these poems are inspired by people: her parents, her children, and her ex-husband.  They capture the difficulty of leaving the past behind. In “What Brings Her Ghost Back,” she tells of the difficulty of exorcising her mother’s ghost which reappears by the way she kneads dough in a manner reminiscence of her mother and how her mother’s laughter is heard in her children. It is evident that Lejeune carefully chooses the stories and words that make it into her tightly woven poems.  “I smile and laugh and pretend words cannot break me,” she concludes the poem, “Monsters and Mouthfeel.” But that’s only a dream as Lejuene demonstrates. Words and memories carry the power to destroy. Yet, words also hold the power to build and the keys to grace.  


I recommend Landlocked: Etymology of Whale-fish and Grace.  The readers will delight in Lejeune’s use of language and metaphor.  This is a book one will want to pull off the shelf over and over again in order to revisit those poems.  Lejeune also works with the Ossabaw Writer’s Retreat.  

19 comments:

  1. I really need to read more poetry. I read a lot of stuff, but poetry is a genre I always seem to neglect. Great review!

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. I bet I would like this. I enjoy poetry set in Louisiana

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    1. It's not set in Louisiana. It's set wherever Danelle was at the time or is now, be it physically or mentally.

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  3. This sounds like a compelling set of poems. I need to read more. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Charles, while there are a number of poems with a Cajun influence.

    AJ and Stephen, I think you’ll enjoy these poems.

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  5. My sister was a poet and I bet she would have loved this. You've certainly captured my imagination with your review and I might just have to get it.

    I don't read a lot of poetry, but I do agree it's meant to be enjoyed over and over again (unlike other things I read).

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    1. A lot of people who don't read a lot of poetry seem to like my storytelling. My poems are not overly formal and they speak a Common Language I hope. If you ever have questions about 1 let me know!

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  6. You have sold me, and I'm going to check this one out. I'm wishing you a very happy and merry New Year and look forward to more of your interesting and wonderful posts!

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  7. Wow, I thought I'd heard of her before, she has been featured in Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac too!

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    1. Wait I don't think I've been on Garrison keillor's Writer's Almanac. If I have I totally missed it and I'm terribly embarrassed. Can you link it for me please? Danelle

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    2. Danelle, I just found this reply (I am not sure why it was in spam). I was impressed that you had been featured in Writer’s Almanac... (Although that might mean less today than it would have a few months ago). Maybe Karen can enlighten us.

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  8. The title doesn't seem to give an clues to the book.

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  9. I never heard of this before but sounds really good, love poems!
    how is Mia?? Im worry by Wolfie he has a little wound in his leg but he always is dirty with mud! so Im worry about would be infect.

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  10. Thank you so much for this review. 😀

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  11. Sounds earthy and down to earth. The very best poets are them who left the tower at one time or another then found a root to lay down from soul to soil.

    Be Well and have a very good year ahead Sage.

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  12. Thanks for letting us know about this one.

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  13. Just returning from a few weeks of island hopping in the Southern Caribbean Sea ... St Thomas, St Kitts, St Lucia, Antigua and Puerto Rico ... I loved St Kitts ... I could live there ... Anyway, wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year, friend Sage ... Love, cat.

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  14. This sounds great! I'm sure I would enjoy it. Thank you for the review.

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  15. Hi Sage - this sounds such a fascinating book ... I'll definitely look into it. Happy New Year and all the best for the days ahead - cheers Hilary

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