& OTHER BLOOD SACRIFICES
By Elsha Bohnert
Published by Deuxmers
To be released April2013
This collection of 54 poems could have been written by
Little Red Riding Hood all grown-up as she flings herself at the real world, searching for God and big
bad wolves. Part memoir, part dream,
each poem takes a swipe at understanding the craziness and raw beauty of
being alive in this day and age. It’s a
poke in the ribs, a needle aimed correctly, a blood sacrifice. Most of all, it’s about digging in dirt with
bare hands, cussing and crying, because you know you’ve buried your heart here
somewhere.
Early reviews:
Born and raised in Indonesia, with English as her third
language, Elsha is an award-winning artist living on O'ahu, whose poetry takes
you on her personal ride, including a terrifying father (Story), an apathetic
mother (Motherless), war (Tower), and multicultural affairs of the heart
(Razor). You’ll encounter Kali the dark
Goddess and other unseen healers of the soul as well as a familiar hairdresser
in Kaimuki and a little girl playing at Queen’s Surf Beach.
Grounded in specific historical times, events and places,
Elsha’s poetry is bathed in mystery with a dash of danger, intrigue, lust and
magic, all creating a delightful read.
Elsha Bohnert’s garden hose is tough enough to survive
scrapes, bruises, and being stepped on. It squirts hot water alongside soothing
springs, leaving fires still burning. Don’t trip over it. Instead invite it
inside your psyche, and see how it settles.
~ Jeannette Paulson Hereniko, author and performer of the
one-woman show, Wild Wisdom; founding
director, Hawaii International Film Festival; President, Asia Pacific Films
………………
“Elsha Bohnert’s poems will not keep you in your comfort
zone. They contain contradictions, twists and turns; they create pain on the
page, even—perhaps especially—the pain of human coldness, as in her poem “Safekeeping,”
for example. But her poems maintain a clarity like glass, while some cut and
draw blood, as does broken glass.
This is not to say there is no sense of humor: just when you
think you want to weep, she writes a poem “Why I Write,” toward the end of
which she jumps out with, “oh, who am I kidding?” then ends with, if not
something to smile about, something to ease the pain.
Bohnert’s craft is well-developed to a degree that she can
capture the uncanny, and there is great pleasure in going to the sometimes
difficult places to which she skillfully leads us. She is both a brave and
talented poet, digging deep and sharing her sharp insights with her readers.”
~ Patrice M. Wilson, PhD, author of chapbooks When All Else Falters, On Neither Side, and A Different
Current (Finishing Line Press), editor Hawai‘i
Pacific Review, Hawai‘i Pacific University, Honolulu HI
………………
“You will fly through these poems, these living frights you
can’t resist. Prepare yourself with wine
for fortitude and a soft, plumped cushion to catch your astonishment. You will
travel through landscapes of fear and betrayal: either to the dead or the
living, the innocent or the evil. The journey is a tightrope walk with you on
the high wire, toes grabbing so you can move forward to the next poem and the
next. You’re finally cloaked in family and tempting locales. But without a net.”
~ Carol Catanzariti, Free Lance Writer and Co-Editor of Tales from the North Shore.
………………
I own a painting of Elsha’s titled, "How I Plan to Become a
Saint" – a saint of poetry, I think.
Elsha, master of the miraculous, writes of a life that would make most
of us quiver with terror – of war, of rape, of abandonment, of pain and
terrible dangers flying around her like black angels across the page. The result: a gentle peace of memorable
images. Her poems always seem
effortless, as if something inevitable had happened, words coming together to
tell us it’s all really alright. Saints
convert suffering into beauty. Her plan
is working.
~ Alice Anne Parker, author of Understand Your Dreams, The
Last of the Dream People, Bare
Breasts and Cannonballs.
………………
Elsha Bohnert's poems sift through the fallout of past and
present with eagle-eyed attention to symbolic detail and a disconcertingly
restless ease. From a world at war to a sunny afternoon in Waikiki, Bohnert
examines the sublime choreography of the fleeting moment, braving the darkest
of passages to illuminate the binding ties between parent and child, survivor,
lover and stranger.
In a charged atmosphere of animated symbols reminiscent of
Chagall, long-lost treasure and newfound loss are conjured - layers of dirt,
blood, bone, and flying rooftops under a "hollow squander of sky"
(Finding Grace).
Bohnert's poems harvest time with a mix of raw
vulnerability, gamine curiosity and empathy born of strife and passion.
~ Maya Clark, poet and artist
………………
In her first book, Don’t
Trip Over the Garden Hose, Elsha Bohnert captures the life of the artist
from “spinning her lazy wheel of easy bets” to her fierce “I must write with
nail and claw.” Her breathtaking imagery surprises again and again.
~ Norma W. Gorst, author of At the Edge of Speech (Finishing Line Press, 2005).
………………
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