by N.E. Swinton
During these reluctant Spring days I’ve been enjoying reading through Lindsey Bellosa’s chapbook The Hunger. As much as I love the convenience and options technology offers to writers and readers, I still prefer reading words on paper. They feel more permanent I suppose.
There is a familiarity in Lindsey’s poems for me: rural and small town life; childhood religious experiences; and, most of all, nature. The references to the natural world are very rich and evoke sensual, tangible imagery. I love the parallels created between nature and the body. The seasons and colors and textures are illustrative of conflict, growth, change.
Among the poems I find most intriguing are Black Pudding and Hooked. I am impressed by the amount of detail contained in these shorter pieces. There is a story; an entire scene painted with subtle emotion. I’ve read these two poems many times over, like listening to a favorite song on repeat for the feeling it gives.
Perhaps my favorite poem is Stewart’s. The details of place are straight out of my own youth. Likewise, I’ve known many girls and women who have fought with that self-discipline and self-control, slipping into obsession and disorder. The air between the two subjects is heartbreaking. The shift from a loving, carefree offer from a parent to a child, to an interaction heavy with implication and pleading; resistance and hurt. The wall constructed and all that gets lost behind it. The pain of hurting the ones we love through the act of hurting ourselves and how it simultaneously fights against our desire to please.
Lindsey’s writing is vivid, visceral and can be dark without sacrificing beauty or humor. The Hunger is an impressive professional accomplishment but it is also a very intimate sharing of experiences that are at once private and universal. This collection of poetry is a processing of the pains and pleasures of life in all their complexities. Art becomes a platform for truth, empathy, hope-- a pursuit that has connected Lindsey and I as writers. I greatly respect and am bolstered by Lindsey’s bravery as a writer and look forward to reading more of her work.
During these reluctant Spring days I’ve been enjoying reading through Lindsey Bellosa’s chapbook The Hunger. As much as I love the convenience and options technology offers to writers and readers, I still prefer reading words on paper. They feel more permanent I suppose.
There is a familiarity in Lindsey’s poems for me: rural and small town life; childhood religious experiences; and, most of all, nature. The references to the natural world are very rich and evoke sensual, tangible imagery. I love the parallels created between nature and the body. The seasons and colors and textures are illustrative of conflict, growth, change.
Among the poems I find most intriguing are Black Pudding and Hooked. I am impressed by the amount of detail contained in these shorter pieces. There is a story; an entire scene painted with subtle emotion. I’ve read these two poems many times over, like listening to a favorite song on repeat for the feeling it gives.
Perhaps my favorite poem is Stewart’s. The details of place are straight out of my own youth. Likewise, I’ve known many girls and women who have fought with that self-discipline and self-control, slipping into obsession and disorder. The air between the two subjects is heartbreaking. The shift from a loving, carefree offer from a parent to a child, to an interaction heavy with implication and pleading; resistance and hurt. The wall constructed and all that gets lost behind it. The pain of hurting the ones we love through the act of hurting ourselves and how it simultaneously fights against our desire to please.
Lindsey’s writing is vivid, visceral and can be dark without sacrificing beauty or humor. The Hunger is an impressive professional accomplishment but it is also a very intimate sharing of experiences that are at once private and universal. This collection of poetry is a processing of the pains and pleasures of life in all their complexities. Art becomes a platform for truth, empathy, hope-- a pursuit that has connected Lindsey and I as writers. I greatly respect and am bolstered by Lindsey’s bravery as a writer and look forward to reading more of her work.