The Short List of Certainties

by Lois Roma-Deeley

"It's been a long time since a collection has so affected me. Whether she is writing of our twisted relational lives or of her own seemingly innate sense that something's wrong, Roma-Deeley writes with that curious blend of authority and self-doubt that marks our best poets. Ultimately, and reassuringly, she finds the affirmation that sustains her through it all; as her title poem urges, "having courage, let us write a word or phrase on the short list of certainties something that sounds very much like praise." Which is just what she does in this tour de force." – Sydney Lea, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, and former Vermont Poet Laureate

Genres: Poetry

104 pages, Paperback

Published June 29, 2017

Reviews

[Beth Shadur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding collection of poetry, with plenty to inspire thoughtful contemplation. Roma-Deeley explores our fragilities in an uncertain world, and awes us with beautiful language, breathtaking allusions and a strong sense of memory. Her search for strength in face of vulnerability tugs at our emotions and hearts. I want to read and reread each poem because of the richness of depth.

[James B.]

Lois Roma-Deeley's The Short List of Certainties will provide plenty of food for thought. These poems sometimes demand multiple readings simply because of their experimental quiddities, such as "cross-outs," non-grammatical punctuation, and occasional dangling modifiers. After ten readings of one poem, though, I still couldn't figure out how inserting a period after. every. word. of. an. otherwise. perfectly. fine. grammatical. sentence. added. to. the. meaning. or. helped. the. rhythm. That said, I still don't grasp the resonance of all of E. E. Cummings' choices, though he is one of my favorites to read, memorize, and perform.

But when Ms. Roma-Deeley waxes metaphysically without taxing grammatically, her Certainties not only warrant multiple readings, but make such a practice rewarding and even delicious. I remember noting several times in the margin of my advance print-out, "doesn't get better than this." And while this Short List might be considered an heir to the modern metaphysical poets I love—Dickinson, Whitman, Cummings, et.al.—the voice here is all her own, with wit, humanity, and a certain sense of camaraderie.

[By way of full disclosure, I should tell you that this poet was gracious enough to blurb my first poetry collection Manhattan Plaza, though we have never met. ]

—James B. Nicola