Dear John--

DEAR JOHN--(Poetry) 11/15/2021
The Poetry Box

Dear John-- is a collection of poems that investigate explore the multi-facets of love by using diverse points of view to reveal romantic love, loving friendships, and love that is complicated. The namesake poem for which this book was conceived, the final poem, “Dear John—,” is an epistolary poem in multiple stanzas ultimately on which the theme of this book is derived “what happens between the notes // is the living.” 

Available for purchase directly from me or Amazon, B&N, Indiebound.org, Powell’s Books, and Bookshop.org and independent bookstores to order through their normal wholesale channels, either for customer special orders or to carry on their shelves.

Blurbs

​Laura LeHew’s work addresses the sublimation of the human emotions and the trouble remembering them. The evocative language along with the monosyllabic words bring to life a collage of grief, desire, loss, sexuality and repression. Line after line a new secret is revealed, just like peeling an onion down to the core revealing the enigma of how a human negotiates with the natural world, and how men and women define their conduct within, between them and society. I am mesmerized and surprised by the use of “personified punctuation” which become integral parts of the poem as well as the mystery of the black-out word. Laura’s poetry is stunning, clear and melodic. It makes me understand better women’s emotions.

~Raúl Sánchez,
​Author of “All Our Brown-Skinned Angels”
2019-2021 City of Redmond Poet Laureate

​In Laura LeHew’s new collection, she tackles the living one does between the letters. Essentially, love in its numerous forms. Friendship to romantic love to complicated love in poems such as “First Love” and “If Divorce is the Zombie Apocalypse.” Dear John explores connection between people, nature and thought. Offers both hushed human moments and passionate insight. This book will surprise you every time with what it means to love. As a veteran, who deployed to Iraq. I know what its like to place hope in a letter. Not knowing what awaits me on the other side. Laura addresses the unknowing with remarkable honesty, courage, and wisdom.

~Kristine Iredale: poet, veteran, kick-ass baker.

​Laura in Dear John pulls at her scabs with grace, wit and poetic honesty. Yes, it is intensely personal and revelatory as it explores the complexities of romance and love which most will identify and empathize with. You’ll find yourself deeply moved and inspired by its bold honesty. Keep this one close by because it is worth reading several times.

~Christopher J. Jarmick; writer, poet and owner of the independent bookstore, BookTree in Kirkland, Wa

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 A Full One Hundred & Twenty Count Box of Red Crayons

my hand is empty my skin taut
you are a fire appearing as tongues
of light   the anatomy of a crush
you have become a terrible opposition
addition through subtraction is everything
we become terrible flames
 
falling angels stitched into flames
you taste like nicotine your fingers taut
are not so easily unfastened   everything
some kind of sin spoken in tongues
vows & prophecies in opposition
you have no words but everyday imply   crush
 
make my flesh tremble   crush
my two kinds of empty   flames
hidden beneath surface opposition
lightning when the wind curves taut
in a sky of tongues
I have been waiting for you to find me   everything
 
melts everything
a landscape a crush
tongues
indelible flames
imprints taut
against a rough opposition
 
maybe I don’t want the opposition
choreographed in your August eyes   everything
feels like forever   taut
interior pieces added to the crush
rubbed raw against a stubble of flames
in a sea of something monochrome   tongues
 
you give me & you give me tongues
maybe there is a moment without opposition
alignment looming in flames
my heart in your hands   everything
doubts the crush
I am some-other-where taut
 
a crush of fate & we are a candle of tongues
a wick ignited through taut opposition
everything consumed in flames