Seeing Again

by Danyen Powell

The poems of Seeing Again are both concrete and imagistic. Sometimes surreal, they evoke a sense of place in the heart and mind as well as in the world. Light on the page, they balance like a mobile, sing visually. Powell’s rich imagination inspires the reader to tap into their own, to join him in his exploration of the ordinary and the astonishing.

Early Praise

Danyen Powell in “Seeing Again” uses unique language and spacing between words and lines that allow his words to blossom out of mystery into meaning. As in his poem “Inside The Grey Barn” shadows turn the great key of silence. And in the title-poem, “Seeing Again” there’s the undeniable songbird pierces countless veils. In his penultimate poem, “We Were Always Hungry” he says that through plagues and wars we longed for our legacy to be more—than a stone mouth unable to tell its story. With this book he leaves us a legacy of beautiful poems.

—Allegra Jostad Silberstein, Inaugural Poet Laureate of Davis, California

In his newest poetry collection, Seeing Again, Danyen Powell, invites readers to see his world—our world, but changed. Using spare, evocative language, he conjures images and recreates scenes and moments he has witnessed, bringing that attention into each poetic choice he makes. These poems celebrate the world’s wonders and reveal his own deep connection with it and his compassion for all that lives.

Powell’s vision is accessible in each poem, but none insists on a singular understanding. His familiar word choices and subjects—Nature and neighborhoods, mourning and mornings, every form of light–contribute to this sense of openness. Also, his use of white space on the page may be the most significant feature that welcomes readers to investigate the possibilities in each word, each line break, each stanza, and to engage with the resonances and contradictions they find in these pages and in their own lives.

—Ann Conradsen, poet, Sacramento, California

Danyen Powell’s Seeing Again builds a secret garden by words, which is the labyrinth of unknown human darkness. In his poems, dealing with death and dying, he tries to find the way out with great passion, but meanwhile he indulges in details of the darkness leading him to be lost. We will explore complexity in his almost minimized forms.

—Bei Dao, poet and editor of Jintian (Today), Beijing, China

Danyen Powell’s new collection of poems rings with emotional intensity and visual clarity. He is a poet who observes the world closely—both its physical and human elements—and brings them together in resonant juxtaposition. We feel the pain of losing a loved one, marvel at the majesty of Nature, and savor the evocative landscapes he creates. Each poem has its own heartbeat and invites the reader to connect with it.

—Shawn Pittard, author of Shelter in Place and Witness

About the Author

Danyen Powell has been facilitator for the Sacramento Poetry Center’s weekly Tuesday Night Poetry Workshop for over 30 years and still going strong. He’s been a judge for the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest and is the author of two chapbooks, Anvil and Blue Sky Flies Out, both from Rattlesnake Press. In 2014, Danyen published a bilingual collection of poems, Las Palabras Mueren de Sed / Words Die of Thirst.  His poem “Pantoum of the Oncology Ward” was the grand prize winner of the Ad Schuster’s Annual Citation at the 74th Annual Poets Dinner in Berkeley California. He volunteered as a docent at The Crocker Art Museum with his wife Betsy and runs a family construction business with his son Joel.

The post Seeing Again appeared first on The Poetry Box.