Praise for Or Did You Ever See the Other Side?

Every Hedy Habra poem is a jewel of ekphrasis. She takes us deep into magic in these elegant, stunning poems. She layers language in a way that dances between brushstrokes, connecting words and images but also hearts and mystery. Habra shows us how art is an infinite world of possibilities. A dazzling collection.

—Lorette C. Luzajic, editor, The Ekphrastic Review, author of The Rope Artist and Winter in June

Or Did You Ever See The Other Side? weaves a mystery about a mystery—the yearning and its fulfillment (or not) of any lived life. Here, it’s the life of a woman whose exquisite artist’s sensibility enables her to escape a repressive paternalistic tradition. “It took me a while / to wake up from / a life not lived” she says in “Or Did You Think I'd Never Find The Way Out?” As mercurial as life, the titles of these accomplished pantoums, free verse, and prose poems all begin with that elusory and disjunctive “or,” and most are interrogatory, asking but not answering the big questions. They cast the subtle fabric of human aspiration against reality’s loom, making art that holds it all. “I am drawing a keyhole / to find my way / out of my own cell,” the speaker says. Reading that, and this moving book, puts a pen—and a keyhole—into the hand of the reader, as well.

—Rebecca Foust, author of ONLY and Paradise Drive

In this extraordinary new collection, Hedy Habra weaves a marvelous life tapestry through dreams and the language of memory— “the right words thrown / pell-mell in the folds of memory.” These ekphrastic poems are not content to interpret painting and music but transcend the border between poet and art. Habra explores each piece from multiple angles to discover its locked heart: “See how colors arise from heartbeats.” Then she searches for a key, but there is never only one key. Each poem asks a question that invites the reader to see another perspective, then another. This collection is kaleidoscopic, stunning, and wrings a haunting beauty from every brushstroke and musical note. Or Did You Ever See The Other Side? “soars without wings,” taking the reader on a journey into its breathtaking dreamscape.

—Luanne Castle, author of Rooted and Winged and Doll God

Internationally acclaimed ekphrastic poet Hedy Habra’s most recent collection is luminous and powerful in its exploration of women and art. Or Did You Ever See The Other Side? turns on a superb and often spellbinding use of anaphora exploring artists, muses and creative practice. Reminiscent of Anne Carson’s Short Talks, Habra composes poems as alternatives including on topics such as Half-Open Doors, Hot Flashes, Heartbeats, Fractals, Lovers’ Encounters on TV Shows, Ciphers, and Keys. These ultimately culminate in the question, “Or What Is Life If Not A Constant Carving Of Oneself?” Using diverse sources including art from Remedios Varo, Shiharu Shiota, and Wadada Leo Smith, this is poetry as “mobilis in mobile,” expressing haunting and indelible feminist voicings of women in art.

—Cassandra Atherton, Professor of Writing and Literature, Melbourne, Australia