Remember the Sweetness
Remember the Sweetness, Polly Giantonio. Rootstock Publishing (ISBN: 9781578693993) 2026.
Summary: A debut poetry collection capturing memories of beauty, loss, love, and family, both ordinary and profound.
When one thinks of “debuts” one often thinks of a budding young artist. However, what one encounters in this debut collection of poems are the reflections of one who has lived with life’s joys and vicissitudes. This allows Polly Giantonio to remember young love, view paintings in a gallery, or glimpse the seeming commonplaces of rural Vermont life with a richness of lived experience.
The collection opens with “The Praying Mantis.” We see with her the greenness of the “emerald queen,” hands cupped like “a baby sleeping” who is yet part of the “mystics in meditation.” We go blueberry picking with her. And we remember with her being toddlers with blue stains on our cheeks gobbling palmfuls of blueberries.
Other poems are memories of youth. “Surprise” reminds us of being sick at home when a parent brought something special. “The Dandelion” traces an arc from childhood to her own motherhood and the challenge of releasing a child.
She remembers in “Beyond” launching out in life, parting from Mom to go to art school. She discovers the adult challenge of halting “the ticker tape of life’s chatter.” Paintings figures in several poems, one by Bouguereau, another by Hopper, and a third by Rodin, The Kiss. While the mother notices the man’s hand on the woman’s hip, the child is focused on a caterpillar!
The most poignant of the poems describe moments as Giantonio walks with both parents and her brother toward their deaths. Presence with each of them recalls the past, whether her “teenage shitshow” with her father or her first smoke with her brother, dying of “damaged lungs.” Most striking is the moment shared at her mother’s vanity bench. Her mother gives her a string of pearls, a gift from Polly and her father. Then she looks at her “head of chemo fuzz,” decides she needs some red lipstick, and then asks Polly to use this for her viewing.
Some poems capture the contemporary realities we face. What climate change will mean for our grandchildren. Isolating together during Covid. In another, we hear the virus’ chilling prophecy: I am a virus that will mutate and survive.
Yet life’s harsh realities fail to overshadow the everyday wonders of owls, “October’s Confetti,” “Winter Thaw,” and the “Peony.” Giantonio captures the preciousness of our lives including our rebellions and mistakes, the hard and sacred work of accompanying the dying, and the appearances of beauty that points to “something more” in our lives. This debut collection features the mature insight of one who reflects deeply on her life, her family, and her place.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program.