Poets and Poems: Hedy Habra and “Under Brushstrokes”

Sometimes I find myself backing into a poet’s work – starting with the most recent work and then working my way backwards to earlier works. Such is the case with Hedy Habra, whose Or Did You Ever See the Other Side? (2023) I considered here last year. 

Then I read her first collection, Tea in Heliopolis (2013). I realized she has been writing about art – paintings, sculpture, music, architecture, and history from the beginning. Her background suggests this is not by accident; she’s been exploring the cultural heritage of her family through poetry from the beginning. 

 

Under Brushstrokes was published in 2015. As the title suggests, may, or most, of the poems are about art. Habra is going to take us on something of a tour, with our informed tour guide showing us what is and isn’t obvious.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

mist\’mist\ n. 1,3,4 – poem by M.L. Brown at Every Day Poems.

 

“A Christmas Carol,” poem by G.K. Chesterton – Kelly Keller at On the Common.

 

“Winter Wakeneth al my Care” – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

A Quarrel with the World: Milosz’s complicated Second World War – Alan Jacobs at The Hedgehog Review.

 

A Review of The Teller’s Cage: Poems and Imaginary Movies by John Philip Drury – Carla Sarett at New Verse Review.

Reading Poets’ First Collections: Hedy Habra and Andrew Calis

Last fall, I read new poetry collections by two poets I’d not encountered before – Hedy Habra and Andrew Calis. The poems of Habra’s Or Did You Ever See the Other Side? each begin with “or,” suggesting life’s alternatives and ambiguities. The poems by Calis in Which Seeds Will Grow? suggest hope can be found even in places and landscapes where it seems impossible.  

I liked both collections so much I decided to find and read their first collections, Tea in Heliopolis: Poems (2013) by Habra and Pilgrimages: Poems (2020) by Calis. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

Some Tuesday Readings 

 

Writing in the Museum – Dorothea Laskey on ekphrastic poetry. 

 

“Rocky Mountain Railroad,” poem by Luci Shaw – Malcolm Guite.

 

New Year 1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Poetry Prompt: In the Wild Secret Place – L.L. Barkat at Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

Spellcaster – poem by Jeanine Hall Gailey at Every Day Poems.

Poets and Poems: Hedy Habra and “Or Did You Ever See the Other Side?”

“Or” is a curious, and unexpected, word to begin a title of a poetry collection. It’s more unexpected to begin each of the 67 poems in that collection with the word “Or.” Or maybe it isn’t. 

Curious and unexpected or not, that’s what poet, author, and essayist Hedy Habra does in Or Did You Ever See the Other Side?, her most recent collection of poetry. What happens is that each title suggests it’s an alternative to the original – an alternative title, an alternative theme or idea, or a different approach, description, or telling. As I began to guess an “original” title for each one I read, a rather fun exercise in and of itself, I began to understand what she’s doing here. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

“To Autumn,” poem by John Keats – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

The Fogs & Smog of Old London – Spitalfields Life.

 

“Look Up,” a poem inspired by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – T.M. Moore at the Society of Classical Poets.

 

Poetry Prompt: Aisling – Vision or Dream – Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

A Ritual to Read to Each Other – poem by William Stafford at Every Day Poems.