“The Inbetweener”

by Susi Clare

Cyberwit, Copyright 2024

Review by LB Sedlacek

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cyberwit.net (26 May 2024)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 86 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 8119654889
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-8119654888
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.97 x 0.56 x 21.59 cm

Susi Clare invites readers into an emotional and nuanced world where lines blur from imagination into reality. In this new collection, she explores the moments in life such as hope and sadness, future and now, gain and loss and so much more.

Each poem seems to capture delicate yet hardy moments. While these moments may seem fleeting, they are memorable, delicate and imaginative. Each poem contains experience and a quality that echoes throughout the book.

Clare’s words are beautiful yet raw.  They weave together an imagery that evokes an introspective response.

Whether she’s describing faith, laundry, or even icebergs, Clare’s verses create a vivid and evocative picture. She is able to move readers to the heart of the matter in each poem.

From the poem “WHEN THE PAST COMES HOME TO ROOST”:

“The other day, I watched a documentary

about The String Theory of the Universe.

It was grand.

I asked Mummy if she thought everybody

was on one string or if we all had our own,

with little loops for friends.

What a tangle that would be.

She said that if she had one, most of it

had already frayed out behind her.”

Clare tackles a variety of subjects and themes in her new book. Overall, it delves into what it means to live, to reach one’s destinations or maybe to never get there at all. Her poetry reminds us that there is more beneath the surface and it takes us to unexpected places.

The poems are arranged in an intriguing order. Clare acknowledges what the reader might be facing upon reading each of her poems skillfully guiding us in and through the poem to reach a conclusion of our own. Poems can help us to navigate our own journeys and this poet gives readers much to work with.

This poetry book is one of discovery. As you read it, you can imagine the poet smiling along with you as you do and vice versa. It takes a skilled poet to create a book such as this.

This is a collection of poems that will linger in the reader’s thoughts long after the last poem is read. Clare’s words are a balm for the heart, a hand held within the written word.

~LB Sedlacek is the author of several books of poetry including “Unresponsive Sky,” “Poem Medicine,” “The Poet Next Door,” “Simultaneous Submissions,” “Ghost Policy,” “Swim,” and “I’m No Robot.”  Her short stories books include “The Jackalope Committee & Other Stories” and her poem novel is “The Blue Eyed Side.”