Poetry Review - A Woman of Mars, by Helen Patrice

I was encouraged yesterday (by Shira Lipkin - this year's Rhysling Award Winner in the Short Form) to review more about the poetry I read. I don't consider myself much of an expert on poetry or even particularly knowledgeable. That might change as I find myself spending more time with it and trying to learn.

I recently finished the collection of related poetry, "A Woman of Mars", by Helen Patrice and this one is easy to review, so here goes. Most of this I also posted on my GoodReads collection.

I won this slim volume in a little contest the author held on her Author Page at FaceBook - so I feel a certain duty to review it properly.

It's a gorgeous, slim hard cover. Brick red, fitting to the setting with wonderful artwork (pencil drawings) by Bob Eggleston. It's a limited, signed (by both author and artist) edition - mine is number 225/300, so there aren't many left!

It's highly readable. Non of the poems are epic in length and so it's possible to read them several times in one sitting, without getting overwhelmed. The poems tell a story and the over-arching narrative is quite compelling. In the space of just a few poems you come to care about this woman and really want to know what happens to her.  That said, despite the woman's love for Mars, there is an underlying sadness or melancholy, perhaps stemming from the hardship of leaving home and the hardship of being the first colonists on Mars, which permeates the volume. Not uplifting, but moving. 

You can find the collection at PSPublishing.

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