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A review by 2treads
Stepmotherland by Darrel Alejandro Holnes
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I didn't think I would read another resonant poetry collection so soon after #Habitus. But here we are.
Holnes blew me away with these poems. With depth and lyrical verve, we move from Panama to America, through dictatorship to invasion and around mother, father, grandmother, friends, lovers and the ways in which he was shaped by their presence.
I could not help but become immersed in these words and their flow that spoke of change, family, love, identity, and place not only within our communities, but our lands of birth and step-lands.
The title speaks volumes of Holnes' experience from his foundational home to a brand new land where his mother had so many dreams of and for. There is celebration of women and sexuality and loss that will truly strike at the core of the reader. It certainly did for me. Definitely a collection that calls for numerous readings.
Holnes blew me away with these poems. With depth and lyrical verve, we move from Panama to America, through dictatorship to invasion and around mother, father, grandmother, friends, lovers and the ways in which he was shaped by their presence.
I could not help but become immersed in these words and their flow that spoke of change, family, love, identity, and place not only within our communities, but our lands of birth and step-lands.
The title speaks volumes of Holnes' experience from his foundational home to a brand new land where his mother had so many dreams of and for. There is celebration of women and sexuality and loss that will truly strike at the core of the reader. It certainly did for me. Definitely a collection that calls for numerous readings.