Urge to Dance

Urge to Dance is Joanne Sheehy Hoover's fifth poetry collection. This new book both probes for meaning in what has taken place in her life and the world about her to thoughts about what might come next. Subjects are wide ranging, from scenes inspired by the time she lived abroad to scenes from the Southwest where she now lives. Her poems offer provocative insights into what she call the journey of life.

In the poem Scottish Country Dancing she conjures up a vivid scene of life in rural Scotland where she lived for several years. Another poem I Love Californians turns the focus on her countrymen with a thoughtful scene set on the West Coast. There are poems that speak of regrets about missteps made in the past. In these she evokes vividly our impossible but oh so human wish to mend those past errors.

The poem Silent Tears touching describes the pains of memories that neither I nor those hurt can erase. End Game is a celebration of the mystery of life on Earth, this singular place. Seeing True delicately describes the pleasures and pain of a couple's long life together as they move toward seas fed by eternity.