My Mother's Husbands

An intriguing concept for a poetry collection, "My Mother's Husbands" traces a coming-of-age story told through the lens of a daughter's evolving relationship to the men in her mother's life. Some of these men bring a tenderness the speaker's mother can't seem to muster - as in "Ode to Kirk": "You took my hand and we entered the skating / rink dappled with disco lights. You just have / to go side to side, like this. I looked down-- / you held me firmly. I felt safer with you / than my own father."

The mother in these poems is unpredictable, bipolar, the "sexy, glittery Ginger" to the speaker’s "goody-goody" Mary Ann. Gasaway's narrative poems are concise, disciplined. I look forward to reading more of her work.