“Chatterbox is a collection of one hundred and ten poems, tiny tellings written during a year of marriage disintegration. The poems explore a world of bewildering emotions ranging from sadness and terror to anger and enlightenment. The reader enters a world conjured from fairytales and dolls, the Garden of Eden, and the Wizard of Oz; the pages abound with moths and mice, dogs and horses, roosters and crows, oranges and apples, the moon and the sun.

A creative force, exploding after decades of silence, inspires the Chatterbox poems. The poet struggles to attend to a Muse that wakes her each morning, urging her to capture a spirit igniting inside her. The poet observes her own life as it falls apart and fragments then miraculously turns her outward toward others.

Whose heart hasn’t cracked open and broken? Do any of us withstand the pain and transcend to the other side? Can we leave betrayal and abandonment behind without bitterness and resentment? Can we move on and find our true soaring spirits? Chatterbox answers these questions with a resounding, yes!”

When I was in high school, I was on the staff of the school magazine. Each year we printed a book of poetry, short stories, and artwork all written and created by students. I loved it! It may have helped that I had a few of my poems included in the book. Needless to say, I enjoy reading (and writing) poetry. So when Sandy Day asked me if I’d review her poetry book, I had to say yes.

There are 110 poems, and each of them is filled with emotion. I love how she uses imagery and descriptive words. Sandy writes in a way that allows her emotions to be fully felt by the reader. I tended to be drawn to the more lighthearted poems, but there are poems that cover a full range of emotions.

I thought it was clever how she wrote about things we all know about like Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. The Hansel and Gretel poems were a bit on the angrier side, but the ideas were clever. Creamsicle was one of my favorites:

I know this is the delicious part, like the sweet ice-cream

‘neath the tangy orange dip, before the stick (wooden and

Stale, which my teeth need to chew).

So I savour this part—

like a hot summer day, soaking up sun, my toes in the cool

lake, stickiness on my fingers and tongue.

Just saying, love’s awesome!  

If you’re in a poetry state of mind, this book is for you, especially if you feel angry or raw emotion.