And When the Sun Drops
by Connie Post
Paper, saddle-stitch: 28 pages
Publisher: Finishing Line Press (2012)
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-62229-058-1
$14.00
Available at Finishing Line Press
Review by April Michelle Bratten
Connie Post’s latest chapbook, And When the Sun Drops, is a book that came to me highly praised. It is a book that people are talking about. In fact, it was just selected as the Editor’s Choice Chapbook over at The Aurorean. Acknowledgements aside, I had no doubt when I picked up this book that I was in good hands. Connie Post, a favorite of ours here at Up the Staircase Quarterly, has a fantastic way of enveloping her audience. For the duration of a Post poem, you are completely sucked into the world she has created for you. Few poets have this gift on such a consistent basis.
After reading the first poem in the book, I understood why And When the Sun Drops has gotten such high praise. It is brave. It is an accomplishment. Intimate and deeply personal, And When the Sun Drops is a collection of poetry that reflects on Post’s experiences on being a mother with an autistic son. As a writer, I was continually impressed with Post’s ability to handle her subject matter with such beautifully constructed honesty, and never once falling into the land of over-sentimentality. She is a true expert at her craft. As a reader, I felt like a friend sitting at Post’s elbow, listening eagerly and with an open heart to her story.
One of my favorite poems from the collection was “Your Sister Ready for College.” This poem showed that the bond of family cannot be broken, even when a member of that family is leaving, even when it might seem as if you are being left behind. The sister’s leaving is palpable, and it brings anxiety to those who must watch her go:
you roam the house
more often as if you understand
the rules of departure
as if you know
why the boxes
are placed so carefully
around the stairwell
However, we find out that the sister has just as much anxiety about leaving her family behind, about leaving her brother behind:
I tell her not to worry
that you will “be okay”
when you wake
in the middle of the night
I tell her it will take me longer
to climb the stairs
but I will take you back
to your unfolded bed
before the morning breaks us
This poem is just one example of Post’s wonderful work in this collection. I highly recommend And When the Sun Drops to those who have an autistic individual in their life, but I also recommend the collection to those who just appreciate damn good poetry.
Connie Post served as the first Poet Laureate of Livermore, California from May 2005 to June 2009. Her work is published widely and has been published in The Aurorean, Blood Root Literary Magazine, Calyx, Kalliope, Comstock Review, Cold Mountain Review, Crab Creek Review, The Chiron Review, Karamu, Blue Fifth Review, Caesura, DMQ Review, Dogwood, Main Street Rag, The Dirty Napkin, Psychic Meatloaf, The Toronto Quarterly, The Pedestal Magazine, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Slipstream, and The Great American Poetry Show. In 2009, she was awarded the Caesura Poetry award sponsored by the Poetry Centre of San Jose.
***Post was also nominated by Up the Staircase Quarterly for the 2012 Best of the Net competition.
by Connie Post
Paper, saddle-stitch: 28 pages
Publisher: Finishing Line Press (2012)
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-62229-058-1
$14.00
Available at Finishing Line Press
Review by April Michelle Bratten
Connie Post’s latest chapbook, And When the Sun Drops, is a book that came to me highly praised. It is a book that people are talking about. In fact, it was just selected as the Editor’s Choice Chapbook over at The Aurorean. Acknowledgements aside, I had no doubt when I picked up this book that I was in good hands. Connie Post, a favorite of ours here at Up the Staircase Quarterly, has a fantastic way of enveloping her audience. For the duration of a Post poem, you are completely sucked into the world she has created for you. Few poets have this gift on such a consistent basis.
After reading the first poem in the book, I understood why And When the Sun Drops has gotten such high praise. It is brave. It is an accomplishment. Intimate and deeply personal, And When the Sun Drops is a collection of poetry that reflects on Post’s experiences on being a mother with an autistic son. As a writer, I was continually impressed with Post’s ability to handle her subject matter with such beautifully constructed honesty, and never once falling into the land of over-sentimentality. She is a true expert at her craft. As a reader, I felt like a friend sitting at Post’s elbow, listening eagerly and with an open heart to her story.
One of my favorite poems from the collection was “Your Sister Ready for College.” This poem showed that the bond of family cannot be broken, even when a member of that family is leaving, even when it might seem as if you are being left behind. The sister’s leaving is palpable, and it brings anxiety to those who must watch her go:
you roam the house
more often as if you understand
the rules of departure
as if you know
why the boxes
are placed so carefully
around the stairwell
However, we find out that the sister has just as much anxiety about leaving her family behind, about leaving her brother behind:
I tell her not to worry
that you will “be okay”
when you wake
in the middle of the night
I tell her it will take me longer
to climb the stairs
but I will take you back
to your unfolded bed
before the morning breaks us
This poem is just one example of Post’s wonderful work in this collection. I highly recommend And When the Sun Drops to those who have an autistic individual in their life, but I also recommend the collection to those who just appreciate damn good poetry.
Connie Post served as the first Poet Laureate of Livermore, California from May 2005 to June 2009. Her work is published widely and has been published in The Aurorean, Blood Root Literary Magazine, Calyx, Kalliope, Comstock Review, Cold Mountain Review, Crab Creek Review, The Chiron Review, Karamu, Blue Fifth Review, Caesura, DMQ Review, Dogwood, Main Street Rag, The Dirty Napkin, Psychic Meatloaf, The Toronto Quarterly, The Pedestal Magazine, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Slipstream, and The Great American Poetry Show. In 2009, she was awarded the Caesura Poetry award sponsored by the Poetry Centre of San Jose.
***Post was also nominated by Up the Staircase Quarterly for the 2012 Best of the Net competition.
