Customer Reviews:

• "Once again Andrea has written a fine collection of poems beginning with her poem: Dancing the Unicorn,and closely followed by a picure of herself with her cat...charming! In the poems to follow, it would be impossible to choose just one favorite. In her poem: When Trust Renews, I especially like the line, "I seek you in the caverns of my mind". Andrea is skillful employing forms such as the Triolet, a form I find extremely difficult to write well. Andrea's poem, In Strangler's Wood, creates a mood that is unforgettable. This is one of her best poems, but there are so many good ones...sonnets, rondeaus, kyrielles,quarterns, triolets, swap quatrains, etc. I'll read this collection many times." - Emily Romano

• "Get ready to submerge yourself in dreamy blue hues when you pick up a copy of Dancing the Unicorn: Lyrical Blooms 2, the latest chapbook by Andrea Dietrich. That’s just how easy it is to project oneself into the cover art, which depicts a tambourine dancer alongside a blue unicorn. This mystical rendition by the imaginative cover artist, Lis Saint Laurent, implies a nighttime mood and is followed by elegant sheer blueberry inserts as you open the chapbook. What a marvelous gem we enter into as we witness the skilled writing hand that Dietrich lays before us... a feast for the eyes and the soul. Dietrich, A prolific writer, each of her chapbooks more eloquent than the previous, has produced yet again a chapbook which, in my opinion, contains her best compilation to date. This talented poet easily melds her words into virtually any given poetic framework, and in this newest of her chapbooks we are given seven sections of poetry forms that portray her versatility as follows: (1) Sonnets; (II) Rondeau; (III) Kyrielles; (IV) Quaterns; (V) Triolets; (VI) Swap Quatrains; and (VII) Mixed Forms. Following are excerpts of some of my favorite poems in each section, although every poem is highly noteworthy.

Nicknamed “the Sonneteer” among her peers, in Section I., Dietrich treats us to sonnets we can cherish and relate to with our own life experiences. When Trust Renews carries a message that every poet, artist and creative person can relate to, whose muse has temporarily flitted away and then quite unexpectedly reappears with a burst of creativity. In the final lines of this poem, we read:

        Aha! Sweet vindication. Trust renews.
        You’ve reappeared, my precious little muse!

Sonnet On a Garden shows this poet’s love of nature, and how her spirit renews when simply sitting outside, where she becomes one with the flora and fauna around her. The final couplet sums up the mood of this experience:

        No cares, just sound of robin redbreast’s call.
        And here I’ll stay until the shadows fall.

Concern for ecology and the recklessness of humankind toward our planet is addressed in Foretold, where we read:

        We’re led by fools and thieves who do not lead
                with vision. All around, inequity
        abounds as love is killed by war and greed.

The many topics and moods in her poetry allow each poem to be fresh and captivating. In Forever Friends, she speaks of memories of a deceased friend as she revisits a favorite creek they frequented, blooming with flowers they used to weave into garlands. The sonnet begins:

        I follow that old creek which you and I
                meandered with...those many years ago.
        Its half-forgotten end has now run dry
                and vanished like the ferns that used to grow...

...and ends with:

        Too old to run, I spread a blanket and
                weave yellow rings, remembering my friend.

In a favorite Rondeau in Section II, entitled To Feel, the center stanza demonstrates her exhilarated emotion:

        I want to jump again...headfirst
                into the ocean, be immersed
                as passion’s billows multiply.
                        I want to feel!

It’s Solacing once again addresses her love of nature and her concern for the ecology, in this excerpt:

        How sweet are Nature’s ebb and flow.
        But things are changing; soon we’ll know
        Earth’s stress may have no remedy!
        But while things go as they should go...
        it’s solacing.

Other favorite Rondeau poems are: Take Christmas Down, We’re Zigzagging, Sweet Youth Rondeau, Kind Haven, Tides Ever Fall and Rise (In Memory and A Farewell to Dad).

In Section III, in That March (Sonnet Kyrielle) we read these words of a forceful and fickle March:

        She’ll softly sigh, that little lamb,
        then turn and rage. She loves a sham.
        She’s sure to make new enemies!
        That March is just a little tease.

Other favorites in the Kyrielle section are: A St. Paddy’s Day Kyrielle and The Timeless Place.

In Section IV, A Love song For the Universe and One Sunny, Sweet Sunflower Day are poems also expressing Dietrich’s love for the planet and of spreading ‘seeds’ as we go, including the suggestive ‘between the lines’ idea that seeds of positive thought can make a difference in the world.

Section V, Triolets, showcases this lovely 8-line poetry form, some of my favorites being: Reaping Fancy Fed, Music Triolet, The Avalanche, Unfathomable and others. The Evening’s Come is an extraordinary triolet, expressed with this excerpt:

        The evening’s come. Now close your eyes.
                Move on beyond the star-laced skies
                        until you find the Greater Light.
        The evening’s come. Now close your eyes,
                and gently drift into the night.

Sing a song of Six Senses: Christmas Triolet addresses the usual senses of sight, hearing, taste, and smell and the last stanza is actually Joy (The extra special sense). This 6-stanza triolet is a special treat to have on your bookshelf to read each Christmas season.

Among other lovely poems in section V. Swap Quatrains, Comes a Wind is an outstanding poem using words that depict the motion and power of wind in the heat of summer. Star-Crossed (For Love of Day, For Love of Night) is an unusually special quatrain about the interaction of the sun and the moon.

In Chapter VII. Mixed Forms, In Mother’s Crown (Constanza), Dietrich portrays her relationships with her sisters and their mother: “the gem most brilliant – Mother’s love.”

In the final section, VII. Mixed Forms, we read In Strangler’s Wood about the trees that witness a murder, but are blamed for the death of the victim. Shadows and lightning add to this ominous read. My Lady is another favorite, and also Winter Love Aglow (Trijan Refrain), in which Dietrich masters this form.

I will close with an excerpt from the sonnet The Poet’s Treasure, which speaks of how the world appears to the poet, and appropriately finishes with these parting words:

        Though meager be his assets, he bequeaths
        to us a treasure with the words he breathes.

We are indeed most fortunate to have this talented contemporary poet among us. ~Jan Turner, author of Reflections of The Inner Eye and coauthor of Faery Folk & Fireflies.