Rating: 5 Stars
The Heart’s Necessities, by Jane Tyson Clement and Becca Stevens, is a collection of Clement’s poetry and is interspersed with biographical commentary by Ms. Stevens. The selected poems are centered on the daily observations of life and nature. As such, they are an excellent complement to the biography.
In this lovely collection of poems there is also pictures from the poet’s life as well as images inspired by her work and pictures of Ms. Stevens. Although, the poems themselves is what I truly loved about this book. It was obvious to me from the beginning that Ms. Clement is gifted and her verse covers a wide range of topics from her relationship with her husband (there is a whole section dedicated to poems written for, and about, him) to those about nature.
Some of the poems were more straight forward and some more complex; however, all contained beautiful imagery. One of my favorites was from early in her life. It is titled, “It Was the Simplest Thing” I loved the opening and how it conveyed such longing even though the poems states otherwise. Another poem I enjoyed, and every writer should read, was titled “Writer’s (Abdominal) Cramp”. In a few short verses it told of such frustration with writing and how she had grown “quite ill” with it. I had to smile when I read that one!
It was a real pleasure to read this collection. Before this, I was not familiar with this poet. I am very glad to have been introduced to her work and know I will read more by her in the future. I highly recommend this collection to all lovers of poetry.
I received a free copy in exchange for my honest review.