Poetry of Witness

"Probing and powerful, Chernin's work digs deep"

On the Poetry Matters blog, Barbara Sabol reviews Shelley Chernin's chapbook The Vigil (from Crisis Chronicles press), and interviews Shelley:

"Some of the most powerful and memorable poetry reveals truths about the world—facts, figures, compass points on the map of human struggle, natural and man-made calamity, tyranny, war. The lyric impulse inherent in a poem pulls the reader, line by line, into a given sensibility; more effective, I believe, than any manifesto...  Such is also true of Shelley Chernin’s chapbook, The Vigil, which chronicles coal mining disasters in West Virginia and India, and the environmental and human toll of mining.  This is a poem of witness, a narrative sequence depicting coal mining in tangible and riveting lines. "

• Poetry of Witness: Review of The Vigil, by Shelley Chernin, and Interview with the Poet, by Barbara Sabol