FORTHCOMING
Cover art by Beth Barnett
Reviews are coming
in for my latest poetry collection, Ain’t These Sorrows Sweet, which is available for preorder.
I am ever so grateful to these reviewers, all poets themselves, who I respect
and admire.
“Once again,
Lauren Scharhag demonstrates accomplished skill and innate talent for sorting
skeins of traditional homespun yarns into contemporary designs. Within the
framework of each poem, upon a warp of sorrow grounded in absence and denial,
Scharhag threads the grist of immigrant and first-generation relatives sharing
and not sharing hard memories. A legacy of uncles serving out lives in prison,
darkness and loss surrounding births, the dull drag of loved ones aging toward
death, the vibrant energy of childhood in an urban landscape all intertwine to
anchor the backbone of a brilliant life tapestry. Through a weft of sweetness where
the ground beneath warms and softens, those shining threads of witness
and hope a poet shuttles into creative patterns, Scharhag distills memories of
light and joy contained in everyday tasks like sorting beans with a grandmother
and treasuring objects such as an heirloom swan-shaped soap dish. The complex
tangled bonds of history and family weave expertly through this collection
casting a rustic mosaic to pass down through generations.”
—Shelly Norris,
author of Hyperbola (Impspired Press)
“This is a book of
pain and life and tiny joys: Aztec warriors, divorce and plastic flamingos,
broom guitars, dementia and familial sacrifices, the loss of pets and people to
terrible diseases, and family serving long prison sentences 'growing old before
their time, fashioning objects that they intend to set loose, like doves at a
funeral.' Masterfully written with such a vibrant descriptive
language, Lauren Scharhag's Ain't These Sorrows Sweet is
everything I love about great writing. When there is pain, you feel it;
when there are moments of sweet joy, it is the same. You know the author
has truly lived these experiences and is able to transport you to wherever she
pleases with both a sincere clarity and levelling eye rooted in such a
wonderful wash of language and feeling. Whether it be a failed clock-drawing test for dementia or recovered treasures from a ceramics graveyard, the
inevitable cloud of our own mortality hangs over everything. Our lives
speckled with sorrow and time like those speckled seed bodies and an old enamel
soaker pot in “Sorting the Beans.” Lauren Scharhag's Ain't These
Sorrows Sweet is a sincerely unflinching and beautifully courageous
reminder of human perseverance and of 'how time cuts us all down to
size.'”
—Ryan Quinn Flanagan, author of Kiss the Heathens (Roadside
Press)
Lori's review can also be read here.
Linnet's review can also be read here.
NOMINATIONS
I am simply
thrilled to share that my poetry collection, Moonlight and Monsters, has
been nominated for an Elgin Award. BIG THANKS to the Gnashing Teeth Publishing
folks for this honor!
Moonlight and Monsters is available for purchase from Gnashing
Teeth and Amazon.
I also have some copies, so if you’d like yours autographed, please
let me know. From me, they’re $15. I can accept PayPal or Venmo.
PUBLICATIONS
"Father"
was also the magazine’s featured poem on April 26.
