Series: Pitt Poetry Series
Paperback: 104 pages
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press; 1 edition (February 5, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0822962977
ISBN-13: 978-0822962977
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Review by: g emil reutter
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Teresa Leo has always been a poet who never hides behind the curtain. Bloom in Reverse is a collection of poems presented in stark realism in both subject matter and words. There are none of the current clichés used by those language folks nor are there any tee hee moments or a need to figure out exactly what the poet said. Leo is one of a growing group of poets who can return poetry to the mainstream by presenting poems people often have experienced in their own lives. As much as it may pain some, truth be told, people want to read poems, if at all that reflect their lives, losses and loves. Leo accomplishes this in this outstanding collection of poems written by a poet with the heart of a story teller.
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From – Elegy, Two Years Later
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I will no longer think
of her last moments on earth-
her final thought
or what random thing her fingers
may have touched
the residue of warmth
that radiated there, pulsed
an undercurrent that looped
back into the body, spun
thourgh the neutral net
past organs and bones,
traveled up the spine
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so that the brain
would recognize touch
in its form as pen or chair,
an image that might have stayed
in her mind, lodged
the last image
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It is in poems such as this that Leo reminds us of the importance of passion and substance. That in fact ideas and the motivations behind them lead to poetry with a heartbeat.
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From – Home is a Four Letter Word
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There are other ways to say it-
trap, cell, rope, hell,
the kind of place
where she’ll pull up daylilies
on a cold morning
wearing only a thin nightgown,
and after that with dirt
still odged beneath the fingernails,
she’ll tear down photos
like the pornographic ransom notes
they are, trace evidence
of the felon she once loved,
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In Bloom in Reverse, Leo, brings us into her world of loss of a friend and at other times a lover. She chooses her words carefully and with great honesty.
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Teresa Leo in The Fox Chase Review http://www.foxchasereview.org/10SU/TeresaLeo.html
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You can check out the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Bloom-Reverse-Pitt-Poetry-Series/dp/0822962977
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– g emil reutter lives and writes in the Fox Chase neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pa. (USA). http://gereutter.wordpress.com/.
Fox Chase Review 
