Verse inspired by the Misery Islands

Thanks to Will Broaddus at the Salem News for this article in the Salem News! (My kids were surprised and thrilled to see their picture in the paper.)

Here's an excerpt:

"The poem 'Misery Islands' narrates her journey and describes the two islands, but is also a reflection on the poet’s recent divorce.

'We were never of one body,' she writes. 'You said wind. I said water. / And whatever has connected us has disappeared.'

The image draws on the fact, which O’Neil describes, that one Misery island can be reached from another by wading at low tide.

Most of O’Neil’s poems work in this way, illustrating life lessons in figures of speech that are directly drawn from experience."

Read the entire article, and buy the book!