Books
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Becoming
Another New Calligraphy (2016)
The last poem of this collection asserts that “…the past is the answer not/ worth pursuing.” But the startling and moving poems that precede it prove otherwise. In Becoming, Laura LeHew has pursued the past, delving into a family history replete with the catastrophic effects of alcoholism. Using innovative forms and vivid imagery, LeHew’s work poignantly evokes the devastation created by an alcoholic sister, mother, and father. These poems tell a powerful story—one both provocative and wrenching.
—Paulann Petersen
Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita
Rather than portraying family as the mythological unicorn we wish it to be, Becoming is the poetic equivalent of an antithetical Brady Bunch. Full of fracture, dementia, multi-generational substance abuse, and violence, Laura LeHew’s poems wrench family damage from shadows and whispers directly onto center stage. A poem in the voice of sister “Karen,” relates: “Once he fuckin’ broke the door down/pulled the phone off the wall/while I was callin’ the cops./Remember?//Like dad did that one time when he was so pissed at you?” Heartbreak, rather than sentimentality, is woven into the tightly crafted fabric of the verse, as well as the organization of the collection, with found journal-entry poems, non-sequential ordering, and this solemn profound couplet from penultimate poem “Mother’s Day”: “& the past is the answer not/worth pursuing.” As dark as the reality of Becoming is, the journey is redeemed by unflinching examination, moments of unwavering generosity, and the faithful testimony of survival.
—Lana Hechtman Ayers, author of The Dead Boy Sings in Heaven
Through finely crafted formal innovations and an unflinching focus on the realities of alcoholism, dementia, and the precarious pathways of family histories, Laura LeHew reminds us that poetry is one of the surest ways to fully inhabit our lives while grappling with realities that unsettle the mind and soul.
—CE Rosenow, author of Pacific and Spectral Forms
This book is hand made, limited edition and numbered. Order it here: Another New Calligraphy and I have some copies for sale.
The last poem of this collection asserts that “…the past is the answer not/ worth pursuing.” But the startling and moving poems that precede it prove otherwise. In Becoming, Laura LeHew has pursued the past, delving into a family history replete with the catastrophic effects of alcoholism. Using innovative forms and vivid imagery, LeHew’s work poignantly evokes the devastation created by an alcoholic sister, mother, and father. These poems tell a powerful story—one both provocative and wrenching.
—Paulann Petersen
Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita
Rather than portraying family as the mythological unicorn we wish it to be, Becoming is the poetic equivalent of an antithetical Brady Bunch. Full of fracture, dementia, multi-generational substance abuse, and violence, Laura LeHew’s poems wrench family damage from shadows and whispers directly onto center stage. A poem in the voice of sister “Karen,” relates: “Once he fuckin’ broke the door down/pulled the phone off the wall/while I was callin’ the cops./Remember?//Like dad did that one time when he was so pissed at you?” Heartbreak, rather than sentimentality, is woven into the tightly crafted fabric of the verse, as well as the organization of the collection, with found journal-entry poems, non-sequential ordering, and this solemn profound couplet from penultimate poem “Mother’s Day”: “& the past is the answer not/worth pursuing.” As dark as the reality of Becoming is, the journey is redeemed by unflinching examination, moments of unwavering generosity, and the faithful testimony of survival.
—Lana Hechtman Ayers, author of The Dead Boy Sings in Heaven
Through finely crafted formal innovations and an unflinching focus on the realities of alcoholism, dementia, and the precarious pathways of family histories, Laura LeHew reminds us that poetry is one of the surest ways to fully inhabit our lives while grappling with realities that unsettle the mind and soul.
—CE Rosenow, author of Pacific and Spectral Forms
This book is hand made, limited edition and numbered. Order it here: Another New Calligraphy and I have some copies for sale.
Reviews:
Please read a review of Becoming on Whisper Thunder by Dr. Dawn Karima.
Purchase a copy:
Order Becoming in the Uttered Chaos on-line store - by Other Publishers
Willlingly Would I Burn
Moonpath Press (2013)
“Albert Einstein once said pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. The elegant poems in Willingly Would I Burn possess such purity, such poetic expressions of logical ideas. These poems blend math and science, presenting poems as word problems for the complicated mes we live in. The grace and strength of Laura LeHew's voice vibrate from every single page."
—Roxane Gay, Co-Editor, PANK
In this exciting new collection, Laura LeHew gives us poems of the most adventurous kind. Re-purposing the skeletal language and visual constructs of science and math, of computers and banking and even of standardized testing—utilizing, as well, both conventional and invented poetic forms—LeHew's philosophical algorithms are at once both personal and universal: poems of witness and social awareness, of love and loss, of happiness and its limits, of family dysfunction, health care, and a wide range of social ills that stem from the “arrogant discourse” of those in charge. Willingly Will I Burn expands my horizons and gives me heart.
—Ingrid Wendt, author of Evensong
In Willingly Will I Burn, Laura LeHew reveals the emotion and humor that threads through the details of everyday life. She achieves this partly through her brave honesty, and partly by inserting poetry into forms that no one else has ever attempted, from math word problems to org charts to airplane reservation emails to retirement account statements. In Laura LeHew's world, poetry appears foremost in the most surprising places.
—Zack Rogow, author of My Mother and the Ceiling Dancers
Nominated for the Oregon Book Award 2014.
“Albert Einstein once said pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. The elegant poems in Willingly Would I Burn possess such purity, such poetic expressions of logical ideas. These poems blend math and science, presenting poems as word problems for the complicated mes we live in. The grace and strength of Laura LeHew's voice vibrate from every single page."
—Roxane Gay, Co-Editor, PANK
In this exciting new collection, Laura LeHew gives us poems of the most adventurous kind. Re-purposing the skeletal language and visual constructs of science and math, of computers and banking and even of standardized testing—utilizing, as well, both conventional and invented poetic forms—LeHew's philosophical algorithms are at once both personal and universal: poems of witness and social awareness, of love and loss, of happiness and its limits, of family dysfunction, health care, and a wide range of social ills that stem from the “arrogant discourse” of those in charge. Willingly Will I Burn expands my horizons and gives me heart.
—Ingrid Wendt, author of Evensong
In Willingly Will I Burn, Laura LeHew reveals the emotion and humor that threads through the details of everyday life. She achieves this partly through her brave honesty, and partly by inserting poetry into forms that no one else has ever attempted, from math word problems to org charts to airplane reservation emails to retirement account statements. In Laura LeHew's world, poetry appears foremost in the most surprising places.
—Zack Rogow, author of My Mother and the Ceiling Dancers
Nominated for the Oregon Book Award 2014.
Purchase a copy:
- Order Willingly Would I Burn in the Uttered Chaos on-line store - by Other Publishers
- Order it on Amazon by clicking here.
It's Always Night, It Always Rains
WinterHawk Press (2012)
In the anthology Ashes Caught on the Edge of Light: Ten Chapbooks.
BP (Before Poetry) there was my murder mystery novel. Returning to my first love, this is my chapbook of murder/noir poems.
In the anthology Ashes Caught on the Edge of Light: Ten Chapbooks.
BP (Before Poetry) there was my murder mystery novel. Returning to my first love, this is my chapbook of murder/noir poems.
Purchase a copy:
Order It's Always Night, It Always Rains in the Uttered Chaos on-line store - by Other Publishers
Beauty
Purchase a copy:
From here on down is in progress and has not been updated for a longish while - please bear with me while I update the sections below.
Prizes
in progress ...
Recordings
KMUZ: Talking about Art with Laura LeHew and Anita Sullivan (3/10/17)
Laura LeHew - Lane Community Writers Series - November 3, 2016
Nicole Taylor and Laura LeHew share Nicole's poetry at the February 28, 2016 Lane Writers Reading Series (LWRS) reading.
Oregon Poetic Voices - 3 poems
The Poetry Stage 2015 - 01e Sun. - Laura LeHew
Laura LeHew - Lane Writers Reading Series - December 28, 2014
Laura LeHew - CCA MFA in Writing 10th Anniversary Reading
Laura LeHew - Lane Community Writers Series - November 3, 2016
Nicole Taylor and Laura LeHew share Nicole's poetry at the February 28, 2016 Lane Writers Reading Series (LWRS) reading.
Oregon Poetic Voices - 3 poems
The Poetry Stage 2015 - 01e Sun. - Laura LeHew
Laura LeHew - Lane Writers Reading Series - December 28, 2014
Laura LeHew - CCA MFA in Writing 10th Anniversary Reading
Click HERE for a complete list of Publications.