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Thaw delves into the issues at the core of a resilient family: kinship, poverty, violence, death, abuse, and grief. The poems follow the speaker, as both mother and daughter, as she travels through harsh and beautiful landscapes in Canada, Sweden, and the United States. Moving through these places, she examines how her surroundings affect her inner landscape; the natural world becomes both a place of refuge and a threat. As these themes unfold, the histories and cold truths of her family and country intertwine and impinge on her, even as she tries to outrun them. Unflinching and raw, Chelsea Dingman’s poems meander between childhood and adulthood, the experiences of being a mother and a child paralleling one another. Her investigation becomes one of body, self, woman, mother, daughter, sister, and citizen, and of what those roles mean in the contexts of family and country.
Featured Series
2 released booksNational Poetry Series is a 2-book series first released in 2015 with contributions by Simeon Berry and Chelsea Dingman.
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3.5 stars. Thaw is a soft, somber examination of family, identity and nature. Dingman uses line breaks in an unconventional way conscious of its medium. Its words carry weight, while still relatable enough to recommend for those otherwise intimidated by poetry. This egalley was obtained from Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher.