Ariadne's Threads

In ARIADNE'S THREADS, Kaaren Kitchell's luminous, wise and frequently heart-breaking new collection of poetry, a contemporary Ariadne follows the threads of her own past as she retraces both distant and more recent paths through the labyrinth of a life's experiences. Her stories are eloquently told, lyrically charged and often simply gorgeous. Love--both familial and personal--is the compelling thread that most often draws the speaker to the choices which have shaped her life. Quietly sardonic, mature and brilliant in their intimate reckonings, these poems reveal the many ways that living mythically can allow us always to seize the immediate moment while feeling in one's mind, heart and body the pulse and reverberations of what seems most sacred and unbound by time. As with only the finest books, ARIADNE'S THREADS helps each of us to find paths and passages through our own lives.--David St. John

Kaaren Kitchell covers a lot of territory in this little book of surreal gems: Paris, Zurich, Greece, Pyramid Lake, Santa Monica Bay, Sausalito, Cambridge, Los Alamos, Joseph City, all filled with myth and mayhem, rue and joy. Then there are the devastating love poems for a lost beloved husband that blends the surreal with the narrative, image-laden with all the senses: lavender and roses, oranges and avocado, coffee and wedding cake, spider's web and lace bras. And the birds fly through, swimming the air above and below the pond, the couple, one now a ghost, two swans mated for life.--Dorianne Laux

For me, one of the great pleasures about reading poetry is the chance to be in someone else's true presence, actually to see the world with their eyes. In this wonderful book, I have that feeling. I am indeed seeing the world's colors and shapes, its strange mythical strands of history and culture, tragedy, hope, love and tenderness, with Ms Kitchell's eyes. But there's something more. The lines sing, and resonate, and the play of mind is everywhere, of course. The artistry is subtle. The insights, though lyrical, are often satisfyingly tough. But as I read, and re-read, I receive the happy realization of the something more: in ARIADNE'S THREADS, I'm also seeing the world with this fine poet's heart.--Richard Bausch

Poetry.