Rooftops and Other Poems by Heather Minette
Paperback: 80 pgs
Publisher: Blue Hour Press, 2013
Edited by: Susie Sweetland Garay and Moriah LaChapell
Available for purchase at: Blue Hour Press
Review by April Michelle Bratten
I was first introduced to Heather Minette’s writing in 2011 when she began submitting her short fiction to Up the Staircase Quarterly. She appeared in UTSQ’s first all-fiction issue, number 12, with her story “October Tells.” She appeared in the journal again, in issue 20, with another wonderful story, “Bridges,” which appears in Rooftops in poem form. After following her work in fiction for two years, I was very excited to learn that her first full length collection of poetry, Rooftops and Other Poems, was to be released from Blue Hour Press, a new, but high quality press that puts out beautiful books and anthologies.
Rooftops and Other Poems is no exception. The gorgeous cover art, created by Jillian Lukiwski and designed by Kerry Hormann, sets the tone perfectly for the book, a woman in a red dress, barefoot and free, standing in a sunlit road. Whether the woman is leaving or coming home is unclear, but the road is open for her either way. The book was also carefully and lovingly edited by Susie Sweetland Garay and Moriah LaChapell, the founders of The Blue Hour Magazine and Blue Hour Press.
Minette’s poetry is much like her fiction writing; eloquently written, deeply personal, and punctuated with charming brevity. Rooftops is cleverly divided into five short sections: Embarcación, Layovers, Red-Eye, Final Boarding Call, and Arrival, each aptly titled to show the progression of Minette’s journey. Travel is the common theme in Rooftops, a hobby greatly enjoyed by the writer, but also a metaphor for revelation, living, growing. In her poems, Minette discovers love, friendship, and herself in different locations around the world: Spain, Italy, Ireland, New York, California, and perhaps the most intriguing location of all, home.
Minette’s work is both witty and devastating, light-hearted and dark, humorous and vulnerable. The poems are well-balanced, full, 3-dimensional, rich, and explore all aspects of the writer. Minette’s easy ability to reveal herself, her history, and her essence as a talented and interesting human being, proves that 80 pages of poetry can illustrate a great deal about who a person was, is, and would like to become.
One of my favorite poems from the collection, “Farwell,” demonstrates Minette’s knack for short poetry, nostalgia, and wit:
On a candlelit terrace
among the glow of goodbye,
they drank,
and laughed,
and cried.
Without knowing
in the morning
she would miss her flight.
Rooftops and Other Poems is an addictive book. You will read it in one sitting and then come back to it again. Heather Minette is an electric writer, one that if you haven’t already, you should discover.
Heather Minette grew up in Kemah, Texas. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and is currently studying for a Master of Arts in Literature. She developed a passion for literature and creative writing at an early age. Her desire to travel was inspired by a multi-cultural heritage and motivated by the writers of the Beat Generation. At the age of eighteen she began to travel alone and write about the people she met, the environment she lived in, and the moments that moved her. Her work has appeared in Up the Staircase Quarterly, Backhand Stories, Frostwriting, Bayousphere, and The Blue Hour Magazine. She lives in Texas with her husband and her son where she writes and continues to travel when the opportunity arises.
Publisher: Blue Hour Press, 2013
Edited by: Susie Sweetland Garay and Moriah LaChapell
Available for purchase at: Blue Hour Press
Review by April Michelle Bratten
I was first introduced to Heather Minette’s writing in 2011 when she began submitting her short fiction to Up the Staircase Quarterly. She appeared in UTSQ’s first all-fiction issue, number 12, with her story “October Tells.” She appeared in the journal again, in issue 20, with another wonderful story, “Bridges,” which appears in Rooftops in poem form. After following her work in fiction for two years, I was very excited to learn that her first full length collection of poetry, Rooftops and Other Poems, was to be released from Blue Hour Press, a new, but high quality press that puts out beautiful books and anthologies.
Rooftops and Other Poems is no exception. The gorgeous cover art, created by Jillian Lukiwski and designed by Kerry Hormann, sets the tone perfectly for the book, a woman in a red dress, barefoot and free, standing in a sunlit road. Whether the woman is leaving or coming home is unclear, but the road is open for her either way. The book was also carefully and lovingly edited by Susie Sweetland Garay and Moriah LaChapell, the founders of The Blue Hour Magazine and Blue Hour Press.
Minette’s poetry is much like her fiction writing; eloquently written, deeply personal, and punctuated with charming brevity. Rooftops is cleverly divided into five short sections: Embarcación, Layovers, Red-Eye, Final Boarding Call, and Arrival, each aptly titled to show the progression of Minette’s journey. Travel is the common theme in Rooftops, a hobby greatly enjoyed by the writer, but also a metaphor for revelation, living, growing. In her poems, Minette discovers love, friendship, and herself in different locations around the world: Spain, Italy, Ireland, New York, California, and perhaps the most intriguing location of all, home.
Minette’s work is both witty and devastating, light-hearted and dark, humorous and vulnerable. The poems are well-balanced, full, 3-dimensional, rich, and explore all aspects of the writer. Minette’s easy ability to reveal herself, her history, and her essence as a talented and interesting human being, proves that 80 pages of poetry can illustrate a great deal about who a person was, is, and would like to become.
One of my favorite poems from the collection, “Farwell,” demonstrates Minette’s knack for short poetry, nostalgia, and wit:
On a candlelit terrace
among the glow of goodbye,
they drank,
and laughed,
and cried.
Without knowing
in the morning
she would miss her flight.
Rooftops and Other Poems is an addictive book. You will read it in one sitting and then come back to it again. Heather Minette is an electric writer, one that if you haven’t already, you should discover.
Heather Minette grew up in Kemah, Texas. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and is currently studying for a Master of Arts in Literature. She developed a passion for literature and creative writing at an early age. Her desire to travel was inspired by a multi-cultural heritage and motivated by the writers of the Beat Generation. At the age of eighteen she began to travel alone and write about the people she met, the environment she lived in, and the moments that moved her. Her work has appeared in Up the Staircase Quarterly, Backhand Stories, Frostwriting, Bayousphere, and The Blue Hour Magazine. She lives in Texas with her husband and her son where she writes and continues to travel when the opportunity arises.
