The Soapy Violinist: WTF - by Laura Foley

WTF - A review by Toni

When I was offered the chance to review and present this book, I actually didn't read all the information that was sent to me. I just was ready to read something and talk about it here. I even got all the author information and pics set in my blog in advance without really knowing what I was going to read. I planned to read it when I read the book.

I am not always good with understanding poetry, poetic "stuff." Sometimes it has to be spelled out for me. Usually when it is broken down for me then I am in heaven and in love with it. I love to glean and appreciate human experience from poetry. Other times, the poetry, it actually speaks to me and from the beginning and I feel blessed.

I don't really know "how to review poetry."Sometimes I agree to review it to force myself to indulge, experience and enjoy. Here is my experience with this collection. (Long intro........)

THE REVIEW
I read this collection in one sitting. I made a little post-it note for each poem and stuck it on my Ipad as I read. Jotting down a little note after each entry, was just the perfect pause I needed after each piece. I was deeply moved by this collection of memories and feelings. It is the first I have read from Laura Foley. I sat for a half hour in the company of her words. The collection flows from the child daughter to the father, from the father to the grown daughter, to the soldier/POW to the daughter and the past to the present. It is an honest and brave journey that reaches a reckoning and understanding. The sadness, jealousy, hurt and respect swept over me as I read each title.

It was an honor to read this. Thank you Serena for thinking of me. Thank you Laura for writing it, and thank you Mr. Foley for your service to our country.

About the Book:

Laura Foley’s “WTF” refers to her father’s initials and, slyly, to the abbreviated colloquial exclamation, in a pun that laughs and cuts, in this reckoning with a fraught father-daughter relationship. These spare poems communicate more like snapshots than narrative lyrics, beginning with sympathy and gratitude, moving through disappointment, anger and resentment, without ever losing compassion, as Foley examines her father’s formative WWII experiences and, consequently, how he shaped her experience and character, ending with a positive recognition of her father in herself.

About the Poet:
Laura Foley is an internationally published, award-winning poet, author of six collections. She won the Common Goods Poetry Contest, judged by Garrison Keillor; and the National Outermost Poetry Prize, judged by Marge Piercy. Her poetry collections include:WTF, Night Ringing, The Glass Tree and Joy Street. The Glass Tree won a Foreword Book of the Year Award; Joy Street won the Bisexual-Writer’s Award. Her poems have appeared on The Writer’s Almanac, in Valparaiso Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, Lavender Review, The Mom Egg Review, in the British Aesthetica Creative Writing Anthology, and many other journals.
A certified Yoga Instructor and creative arts facilitator in hospitals, she is the mother of three grown children, grandmother to two granddaughters. She and her partner Clara Gimenez live among the hills of Vermont with their three big dogs.
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