More News

Bethesda poet Adele Steiner's latest collection "The Moon Lighting" is not for poetry novices. Multiple readings and concentration are required to get at the heart of these poems, as is the case with most good poetry.

Just when the topic the poet is addressing seems clear, she switches it up and the reader realizes an exquisite metaphor or a lyrical journey that began with a concrete image and ended with an abstract idea has been presented.

Stand-out pieces include the touching "From the Day You Were Born," a poem about nurture and the inevitable move toward independence, and "Heart Attack," which uses a prolific artist's lens to transform a horrible event into a beautiful one.

And then there's the irresistible "Baltimore State of Mind," so rife with rich images of a summer day in the city that the reader may have to shake herself back into reality when it ends.

The poems in this collection, Steiner says, address themes of family, friends, loves and losses.

"…I think the book reveals one woman's coming into her own – making peace with the people, places and events that stirred love, anger, pain and joy, often all at the same time," she says.

This is Steiner's fourth book. She first published the chapbook "Refracted Love," then a full-length book of poetry titled "Freshwater Pearls." Her 2007 book "Look Ma, ‘Hands' on Poetry," is a guide for teaching elementary through high school students how to write poetry.

Steiner has been teaching elementary and middle school students at the Writer's Center in Bethesda for about 10 years, and she conducts workshops on reading and writing poetry in various Maryland schools as part of the Maryland State Arts Council poet-in-the-schools program.

The long-time Montgomery County resident says she often employs the 10-beat line in her work, which makes it sound lyrical.

"I don't use rhyme, but my poems are rhythmic," she explains. She says she often mirrors the Italian sonnet form. Structure in poetry, she explains, helps reel in the chaos that the rapid thoughts of creativity can induce. "In other words," she says, "form can lend boundaries in which to contain and order thoughts later."

Steiner often uses line breaks, or enjambment, to elicit multiple meanings or break up the visual flow of the work.

An example of this technique is evident in the poem "Compulsions."

"…She folds / and stacks them into pilings and / towers to fill space in her chest / of drawers…"

The break after the word "chest" leaves the impression that this woman is folding clothes obsessively to fill some emotional void. But when the verse continues on the next line, the reader realizes that the subject of the poem is also literally filling a chest of drawers.

Steiner draws inspiration from observing nature, people and art and from listening to music.

"I find that these activities help me to open up and be more receptive to inspiration and new ideas," she says.

She began writing poetry in high school, but work and children sidetracked her. In 1986, she returned to school and earned a bachelor of arts in English literature and then a master of fine arts in creative writing, both from the University of Maryland.

In the introduction to her book, Steiner explains how the moon was instrumental in this collection of work.

"With so much of it taking place at night (especially on those full-moon nights!) or in the predawn hours, I couldn't help but believe that it was the light of the moon that inspired my imagination and the creative process that led to new poems," she writes.

Steiner says poetry is her favorite medium because it is the best way to relate life experiences.

"Because the poet, utilizing the imagination, creates imagery, sound, rhythm, feelings and sometimes even tastes and smells through their work, and because, through the use of metaphor, words in poetry can have many different meanings, I find that poetry lends itself best to the task of capturing and exploring experience through language."

"The Moon Lighting" is available online at www.amazon.com and at www.borders.com.