Sierra DeMulder

EPHEMERA is such a stunning and strong poetry collection that beautifully explores impermanence. I ugly cried during and after reading as I reflected on my own love and loss. I’m choked up while writing this as I think about it again. This book absolutely destroyed me in the most horrifically wonderful way. I don’t know how to sufficiently convey how deeply affecting it is. I will visit it a million more times. Without a doubt, EPHEMERA is a must read.

Today Means Amen by Sierra DeMulder is a collection of poetry and a reflection on life. DeMulder is an internationally touring performance poet, educator, and two-time National Poetry Slam champion. Sierra is a 2014 McKnight Fellowship recipient and her work has been featured on NPR, Huffington Post, The Advocate, and others.

It’s not all that often that a collection speaks with emotion throughout and in a way that a male reader can relate too. From a break up she compares to the experience show more to that of an infant finally realizing that he is no longer part of his mother and the first realization of being alone. DeMulder digs deeps in imagery and comparison.

One day, when she leaves the room, the baby
will comprehend that he is actually alone.

Such a heavy load for something so small

The death of a spouse can be measured by the piles of mail, dishes, and photos. DeMulder calls this “tree rings of his solitude” In “Exodus 33:20” her comparison of the face of God or creation (and where the world technically begins) is insightful if not a bit sacrilegious to some, but her ability to draw comparisons is remarkable.

She writes touchingly on dementia that her grandfather suffered from, and, likewise, her treatment of depression, abuse, and self-doubt reach deep into the soul of the reader. Poems like “New Year” and “A Thousand Pieces” break the tension and provide a bit of emotional relaxation.
DeMulder is extremely talented and writes with real feeling. The emotional presence is real and not, as in so many first collections, forced or feigned. It’s rare that a collection can capture and hold the reader from cover to cover. I expect that we will be seeing more from DeMulder in the near future. show less

Sierra wrote it with brutal honesty and such intimate story that can make us feel a lot of emotion piled up at the same time. My favorites are On Watching Someone You Love Love Someone Else and Love Forgive Me.

"You will want to call him. You will go as far as holding the phone in your hand, imagine telling him unimaginable things like—You are always ticking inside of me and I dream of you more often than I don’t. My body is a dead language and you pronounce each word perfectly. Do not show more call him. Fall asleep to the hum of the VCR. She must make him happy. She must be—she must be his favorite place in Minneapolis. You are a souvenir shop, where he goes to remember how much people miss him when he is gone."
--On Watching Someone You Love Love Someone Else, Sierra DeMulder. show less

I'm not really sure how to put into words the sensation of falling that I had through much of this collection. There were a lot of poems about her grandfather and dementia, which drove me basically to tears, and some about love that left me wanting more. I felt upon finishing that I enjoyed fewer poems in this collection than I did in [b:The Bones Below|7726844|The Bones Below|Sierra DeMulder|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347572783s/7726844.jpg|10492603], but maybe another read-through show more (where I probably skip the ones about her grandfather because I can't do that again) will change my mind. It's entirely possible that my head was still spinning from the previous poems that I couldn't take in any more; I definitely had to set the book down due to saturation.

Absolutely worth it. show less