Chemo-Poet and Other Poems
Helene Davis
"What is admirable about Davis's poems is that
true as she is to her experience (she is alternately angry, ashamed, sad, frightened), she
never succumbs to self-pity. Her sense of humor, heart, and, of course, the poems
themselves keep her afloat."
—Gardner McFall, American Book Review (January-March)
"Davis gives us insight into a world we know, yet
so rendered that our consciousness of it is that much deeper. The dream motif in several
of these poems is so effectively incorporated that it seems we are inside the poems rather
than simply observers: 'There is always a clock in dreams,/ but my grandfather's face
points east,/ and we take the wineglasses and the Bible/ which says Whither thou goest
out of the cabinet/ and start a prayer neither of us remembers.' Painful and witty, these
poems don't weaken as the poet tries out a diversity of forms. Hers is a voice very
different from that in most contemporary poetry, and it deserves to be heard."
—Lenard D. Moore, Library Journal (September 15, 1989)
about the author
Helene Davis was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. She was poet-in-residence in Kentucky and Massachusetts. She lives in Massachusetts.
