A Mouthful of Hardship & Honey

"I am very much a Poet of Place. My work reflects opposition and confrontation in a paradox of faith. My poetry follows the dictates of my heart. I use language, complex and simple, in a juxtaposition of metaphor to create an angle of thought within the richness of Place. I imagine I will write and read poetry until nothing remains.

Poetry is what I do. This is a good thing."

We are blessed by those with the courage to reveal themselves in an instant. Not grand confessionals-crystalline moments. Herein are vivid scenes etched not only by visual precision, but by Appel's attention to all senses: juicy plums, light waves, holding hands, drip-drops, pungent yarrow. Scattered along the arc of a life richly felt, these pieces shine tiny lights.

These are luminous poems, woven with sensual grace. From the first of the 13 Love Poems-"dear dark man, man/under leaf and mold/dark dark moon man"-these poems dive deep into the underworld of human yearning, whether for a past lover or another starlit night, and navigate every experience beyond the fields of regret to search for what is true. Where myth is made, where what is lost rises again-wherever these poems take us, we are in thrall of a steady, sure voice, one that knows "it is an old story/ask any woman."

This woman, this poet, I've known for more than sixty years was always fearless, imaginative and bold; she always challenged boundaries wherever and whenever she encountered them. Alexandra is a brave soul in love with the world, and in love with words. All of her feelings run deep, and so, of course, do her poems.

Alexandra Ellen Appel's A Mouthful of Hardship and Honey is a perfect title for a small book that is so full. Stories of a rich life embedded in perfect lines of poetry. You're with her in love, in Ireland, and it seems Alaska's glacier rock and spring bogs can't help but sneak in. There's Mother's mink as well as the small dog whose love perhaps has saved her. A life deeply felt and expressed in these intriguing poems.