The Book Tour Stops Here: A Review of "the moon won't be dared" by Anne Leigh Parrish

Happy Aloha Friday! Today I am happy to be a stop on the TLC Book Tour for the moon won't be dared, a book of poetry by author Anne Leigh Parrish.  

Publisher's Blurb: 

the moon won’t be dared is a poetry collection by award-winning author Anne Leigh Parrish that features artwork by Lydia Selk. In this momentous debut collection, the poet harnesses language to give readers a new vision of nature, the impossible plight of womanhood, love, aging, and beauty. Being a woman in a male-dominated society affords Anne Leigh Parrish the space to witness the world on an uneven keel. Parrish pays tribute to beauty, but also weaves the harsh truths of betrayal and brutality into the filaments holding the collection together. 

 

Publisher: Unsolicited Press (October 14, 2021)

Paperback: 152 pages

 

I have read and enjoyed a few of Anne Leigh Parrish's books on this blog, most recently A Winter Night, back in July, so I was intrigued to read her poetry collection and be on the book tour for the moon won't be dared. When it comes to poetry, I am no expert reviewer giving a critical analysis. To me a poem is good if it moves me, makes me think, it is something I can relate too, and/or I want to go back and read it again to see what I might have missed. the moon won't be dared had me doing all of the above. It is a look at being a woman, in all of our various stages and guises, and also about nature, its wonder and its beauty. Some of the poems on aging, loss, death and grief are poignant and a bit melancholy, but not depressing. They are beautifully written with the words carefully chosen. I read several poems each day for the past couple of weeks, finding their cadence as I read them both aloud and in my head.This is a book to savor--the poems and the evocative collage art by Lydia Selk that is sprinkled in among them, captures the moods perfectly. If poetry is your jam, you will likely enjoy this book or, if you are a dabbler in it like me, you'll find it accessible and engaging. 

One of my favorites:

once more

in silent spaces silver seeps, gathers, flows

the rich wet vein descending from

heights we stood on

once

before the ceiling fell

the one we saw through

all the way to the stars,

black holes, new galaxies on their first spin

old ones winking out

side by side we lie, like medieval effigies

now matter presses down, reducing us to

atoms

but even their nature can change, the moment

we see them from afar

so we launch our love over light years

wait for that silver rush to pick us up

and bear us aloft

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Author Notes: Anne Leigh Parrish is the author of nine previously published books: A Winter Night, a novel (Unsolicited Press, 2021); What Nell Dreams, a novella & stories (Unsolicited Press, 2020); Maggie’s Ruse, a novel, (Unsolicited Press, 2017); The Amendment, a novel (Unsolicited Press, 2017); Women Within, a novel (Black Rose Writing, 2017); By the Wayside, stories (Unsolicited Press, 2017); What Is Found, What Is Lost, a novel (She Writes Press, 2014); Our Love Could Light The World, stories (She Writes Press, 2013); and All The Roads That Lead From Home, stories (Press 53, 2011). 

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Note: A review copy of the moon won't be dared was provided to me by the author and the publisher via TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review and as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.    

You can see the stops for the rest of this TLC Book Tour and what other reviewers thought about the book here.