Hug Me Anyway

<p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Hug Me Anyway</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> is a collection of forty slightly irreverent poems exploring life in all its foibles. The opening poem Apology</span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> in D Minor</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> is a reminder that there is little in this world that offers as much comfort as a hug-even half a hug will do. </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The whimsical </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Who's on First</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> searches for a missing middle name. </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Big Girl Panties</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> warns of a naked woman roaming the streets. </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Hoops and Hurdles</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> questions if the best game plan is just to get on with it because there doesn't appear to be a way back in. </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Close Apart</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> is subtitled </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>A Sad Dolly Parton Country Song</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>. The verses read like lyrics. We're in this together so close apart. We make love with passion but not with our hearts.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Ordinary objects a pen a leaf a rural outhouse take on new dimensions in </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>This Pen Magic</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> and </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The Necessary. Signs to Ponder</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> yields to a humorous turn with alternate views of everyday road signs: CAUTION WATER ON ROAD DURING RAIN. Road dry when sun shines? </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Somber aspects of life: anger depression dying and death are tackled with raw honesty. The poem </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Gone </em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>digs into why we need so many euphemisms for the end of life asking Do cliches hold grief at bay?</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>One review by author Errol Laborde states: Barbara Sillery brilliantly puts the language through the paces displaying pathos humor and lots of thoughtfulness.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>And in the final poem of this remarkable collection the author urges readers What soothes your soul...DO THAT!</span></p>