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What the Postcard Didn't Say
The combustible verses comprising this anthology examine the unsettling way people, places, and relationships affect everyday life. Exposing the baggage, detours, accommodations, and push and pull of the male/female dance, the verses reveal what the postcards really said from the backstage of the subconscious where the messages are throwing a now-or-never party. Full of turbulent encounters and startling discoveries a groom dancing with his ex at his wedding, a cashier in a hold-up by her former one-night-stand, something you hope you won t have to tell your daughter this collection is a tailbone toss across the continental divide in a jeep that dropped its muffler ten miles back.
- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 25, 2024
As you can guess from the title, this poetry collection is often snarky, setting aside manners to deliver the subtext behind our words. “Wish you were here,” is rarely the truth on a postcard. We want to enjoy our week of bliss in Hawaii in peace with our spouse or family and not cater to your tastes while we’re here. We tell white lies when the truth could hurt.
The sections of the book are titled to fit the postcard theme: Accomodations, Luggage, Detours, and Souvenirs. Each section begins with a poem titled “What the Postcard Didn’t Say” followed by a number. However, the poems go way beyond trips and postcards to all aspects of life, including traumatic events like rape. There is always a subtext. We never tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth even to ourselves. Shy demonstrates a deep knowledge of human character and knows which details will plunge the knife into our hearts or make us cheer, “You go, Girl!”
Sometimes the truth does spill forth in innocence from a speaker who doesn’t realize “the simple truth” will be heart-stopping for you. From “Happy Birthday,”
“You ask your son
to repeat what he just said –
…Mom and her new husband….”
To Dad, he’s
“…That guy.
Who has his knee on your chest.
And he’s about to put the other knee
there too.”
In “Rabid,” the speaker describes sitting six inches from “the shaven head / of my son’s assailant…” She has to listen to the plea bargaining done by the DA while she flashes back to her son’s “purpled face / the week he could scarely /roll over or move.” The metaphor at the end amps up the already intense hurt of this scene.
“And there on the sewer grate
lies a foaming raccoon,
my paws clamped together,
my snout wrapped with rope.”
Not all the poems are gut-wrenching. Those just happen to be my favorites. I’ll end on a lighter note with this poem.
“What the Postcard
Didn’t Say – #14
Christmas season in Colorado
sounds like sleigh bells
candles & chocolate stars
Not sick in-laws
kids crying
& one rental car
What I wouldn’t give
to be back at the office
wit you guys"
The sections of the book are titled to fit the postcard theme: Accomodations, Luggage, Detours, and Souvenirs. Each section begins with a poem titled “What the Postcard Didn’t Say” followed by a number. However, the poems go way beyond trips and postcards to all aspects of life, including traumatic events like rape. There is always a subtext. We never tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth even to ourselves. Shy demonstrates a deep knowledge of human character and knows which details will plunge the knife into our hearts or make us cheer, “You go, Girl!”
Sometimes the truth does spill forth in innocence from a speaker who doesn’t realize “the simple truth” will be heart-stopping for you. From “Happy Birthday,”
“You ask your son
to repeat what he just said –
…Mom and her new husband….”
To Dad, he’s
“…That guy.
Who has his knee on your chest.
And he’s about to put the other knee
there too.”
In “Rabid,” the speaker describes sitting six inches from “the shaven head / of my son’s assailant…” She has to listen to the plea bargaining done by the DA while she flashes back to her son’s “purpled face / the week he could scarely /roll over or move.” The metaphor at the end amps up the already intense hurt of this scene.
“And there on the sewer grate
lies a foaming raccoon,
my paws clamped together,
my snout wrapped with rope.”
Not all the poems are gut-wrenching. Those just happen to be my favorites. I’ll end on a lighter note with this poem.
“What the Postcard
Didn’t Say – #14
Christmas season in Colorado
sounds like sleigh bells
candles & chocolate stars
Not sick in-laws
kids crying
& one rental car
What I wouldn’t give
to be back at the office
wit you guys"
October 10, 2013
A book of mostly upbeat poetry by this Wisconsin author. Many of the poems deal with exes, everyday life, though there is one that examines domestic violence from multiple viewpoints. Here’s the title poem.
What the postcard didn’t say #17
Tonight I sleep
On this cabin floor
Tomorrow bleach my hair
Change my name
From now on your dad
Gets to deal with you
I’ll look you up
When you hit 18
What the postcard didn’t say #17
Tonight I sleep
On this cabin floor
Tomorrow bleach my hair
Change my name
From now on your dad
Gets to deal with you
I’ll look you up
When you hit 18
July 28, 2020
Loved it
January 6, 2017
Shoshauna Shy is an absolute wonder! Her poems are intimate, striking, immediate, and all too human. With bracing honesty and impeccable pacing, she drew me into the secret hearts--often troubled, sometimes dark--of fallible, fraught people much like you and me.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews