Both Shoes Off

Bryner�s grasp of the harsh demands and simple satisfactions of rural life make for truly compelling poetry. Her honest and well-crafted testimonies remind us oft from the �gat it takes to get through life, the kind of quieter life in which many Americans still live and work, a life far removed from the more sensationally reality of sound bites and headlines. It is a privilege to have been let inside so many tender moments of everyday domesticity as are revealed in these finely measured poems. �Marc Harshman, poet laureate of West Virginia / /

With a good reporter�s precision and a gifted poets empathy, Jeanne Bryner�s latest book focuses on �the epic of everyday life.� Here, she recreates the story of her husband, her children, the roof and doors of her house, un unpredictably garden, and her farmer neighbor�s crops and cattle. �Both Shoes Off is a true gift from a wise and accomplished poet, straight from the �good bones church� of her remarkable life. �Maggie Anderson, author of Windfall: New and Selected Poems