Variations on a Theme of Love by Kathy O’Fallon

“Kathy O’Fallon’s loves weave family stories, music (a Les Paul guitar, her mother’s for her violin), poetry (a plum that tastes of Neruda, and art (seeing like Monet).  And though her MO’s vary, she most often works like a” jeweler/hunched over in the back room/a loupe to guide her through/ the brilliance to the flaws,” some of which disturb her, but not a few she celebrates, dogs in her bed, dogs running right through the poison oak, and, of an Olympic swimmer she says:” The arch of his biceps …/ Chiseled stone like I’d once touched in Florence…/ I can hardly keep my hands to myself.”  My own loves include both her tenderness and her enthusiasm.

–Lola Haskins, author of Homelight

“These are the poems of a fully inhabited life, portraits and landscapes, family poems, poems of sadness and regret as well as joy and healing. The natural world appears everywhere, vibrant and alive. I admire the attention to detail and the clear honest language. Check out the Variations!”

–Joseph Millar, author of Shine

“The poems in Variations on a Theme of Love remind us that no love is perfect, that every love has an ache in it, a yearning always unfulfilled – be it the love for a parent, a sibling, a lover, a child, a grandchild, a neighbor barely known before she moves away – and that every love is a gift. These poems are infused with the tenderness that comes from that ache, with a sensuality and delicacy that turns away neither from that grief nor from its beauty.”

–Cecilia Woloch, author of Earth