Author Talk with Weslea Sidon: If Only

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If Only is both ode and elegy–to the Maine island where Weslea Sidon has lived for so long; to the beloved with whom she shared this life; to the animals, plants, and people that constitute he community. The brevity and simple language of these poems are the source of their emotional power. The world they describe–yard sales, bird feeders, school plays, lonely rooms–accure into a portrait of place that is both specific and universal. Always they remind us of Sidon’s deep and unsentimental sympathy with imperfection, her eagerness to find beauty in the awkward and the overlooked. These poems celebrate the ambiguities of time, the push-pull links among our inner life, our daily world, the unknown. As Sidon reminds us, “There is nowhere / you can go now, without going through.” – Dawn Potter, Maine Poet Laureate, author of Calendar Weslea Sidon is a poet and musician residing in West Tremont, Maine with two cats and big plans for the garden. Her poems have appeared in many literary magazines as well as the New York Times, the Bar Harbor Times and the Mount Desert Islander. She was a recipient the Martin Dibner Fellowship in Poetry. Weslea is the author of two full-length collections: The Fool Sings, published by Rain Chain Press and her newest, If Only, just released by Deerbrook editions.

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