Heartwood

I had never had the opportunity to read the poems of Linda Rocheleau before meeting her in Ashville in 2019 and it makes me wonder what I was doing with my time up until then. I feel that way every time I stumble upon an underappreciated talent and the fact that all of the poetry reading public isn't singing her praises makes her so in my book. Mentored by the late Gerald Locklin Linda long ago moved past that student/teacher relationship and has blossomed into a very gifted artist in her own right. To say that this collection is long overdue is an understatement and to say you'll enjoy it surely is another.-John Dorsey Pocatello WildflowerIn her poetry collection Heartwood Linda Rocheleau deftly spins colorful poems that hook the readers and keep them reading. Rocheleau tells poetry like a friend telling stories over coffee weaving descriptive images of small towns mountains and everglades and dive bars populated with outsiders and people wholly committed to living. She creates a journey where the sole destination is life and anyone who picks up this book is invited to enjoy the journey with her and then find a journey of their own. So pick up this book. It's a good one. -Michael Hathaway Chiron Review?A woman of coasts of journeys between shores Linda Rocheleau wends her eventual way to mountains weaving poems that connect the people places and passions of her experience. As she tells us: It's what we conceal/that defines us in a voice honest graceful and sometimes wry. Rocheleau's poems generate a world we recognize or remember or dread and help us make our own way. A collection to savor and to share. To paraphrase Dylan Thomas: This is a collection to give your sister-if she's an open thoughtful and occasionally boozy girl. -Maryanne Stahl author of the novels Forgive the Moon and The Opposite Shore and the poetry and flash fiction collection Electric UrgencyThere is absolutely nothing that anyone can do to stop time. Second after second glimpse after glimpse moment after moment stack higher and higher...so high you could easily imagine they've become mountains. In this Linda Rocheleau collection of poems Heartwood words are certainly more than just words on a piece of paper...they're perfectly staged tour guides which lead us all on a journey from the hard bottoms to the near-heaven tops of all the mountains which time has soulfully created for her. Enjoy the journey you just might find yourself along the way...I did.-Victor Clevenger author of A Wounded Gambler