Listening in the Dark

<p><span>3rd Place Winner of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize 2022</span></p><p><br></p><p>The poems in <strong><em>Listening in the Dark</em> </strong>center on the theme of growing up with an unidentified hearing loss that progressively became much worse. In her mid-20s Suzy Harris learned the diagnosis and started wearing hearing aids. In her mid-60s after losing most of her hearing in both ears she received her first cochlear implant and then a second one which required learning to hear again.</p><p><br></p><p><span>Early Praise:</span></p><p class=ql-align-justify>I have seldom encountered a series of poems so closely linked and connected as a whole. This chapbook tenderly addresses the poet's lifelong hearing loss with a surprising precision of language starting at the very beginning of life and reimagining that time of <em>growing up with two languages/ one that is silence</em>. No doubt these tender poems will help many readers to feel less alone as they navigate their own worlds of memory loss and resilience.</p><p class=ql-align-justify><strong>-James Crews contest judge poet editor of <em>How to Love the World</em></strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>Suzy Harris propels us into her world-an exultant quest from 'Broken Listening' to the cacophony and wonder of sound.</p><p><strong>-Willa Schneberg LCSW recipient of the Oregon Book Award for Poetry</strong></p><p><br></p><p class=ql-align-right><strong> </strong></p><p class=ql-align-justify>With lyric intensity her poems convey Harris' experiences as she slowly undertakes the eerie process of learning a whole new universe of sound translating the implants' <em>ticks and taps and dings</em> into what's recognizable. Risen from its own ashes the poet's new sense of hearing leads her toward the <em>exquisite harmony</em> of soaring renewal.</p><p> <strong>-Paulann Petersen Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita</strong></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>