Sharon Chmielarz Boeken

This volume includes new poems and selections from the author's 14 previous books. Her themes range from a working-class childhood in South Dakota to daughter/father relationships, widowhood, and both European and immigrant history, in a wry, conversational style reminiscent of modern Polish poets such as Szymborska and Milosz.

The author, well known for her wry and subtle poems, here sends readers in a different direction, to word-puzzles that actually have a solution--often more than one. The language is pleasant and evocative, but the challenge can be great. These riddles can inspire interesting associative guesses, not to mention solo or group fun.