Jill R. Burkey dares to question in her chapbook, The Two Hearts Inside Us, because “questions breed possibility”. The poet reflects upon motherhood, the effects of consumerism, and the need for mentorship; all of which create questions for the next generation. Born in the western plains of Nebraska, Burkey now lives in Grand Junction, Colorado and her writing reflects upon these landscapes, first appearing in literary journals with a frontier aesthetic like Deep Wild Journal and Front Range Review, amongst others.
The Two Hearts Inside Us
Jill R. Burkey
(Lithic Press, 2024)
Cover Price: $12.00
Length: 32 pages
The poem, “Pregunta” yields the central conceit with questions about our possibilities, like the what-ifs of pregnancy that can only be answered by birth. Its speaker comments not only on motherhood and her relationship with her children, but also humanity’s relationship to the world:
When our children finally bend us
to their will, and we empty our lives
into theirs, they will slip away into their own,
and then what question can I ask
in this perfect, but empty, house?
Burkey’s craft and practice of Buddhism reminds readers to take those silences of an empty house and sit with them. In “White Space,” an ars poetica, she writes:
The most important part of a poem,
said Li-Young Lee, is the white space
between the stanzas, and the silence
that rises when the last line is read.
She wonders why people try to fill those blank spaces, suggesting rather, “Let there be room for long exhales / consider what will arrive in the silence / after the last line of this life is read”.
Burkey’s technique makes her reader look at those last lines, because they pack a punch. In “What I Found When I Moved,” she has learned to “do with less.” The speaker realizes that a “home is a feeling, / not a place.” She seeks that invitation for a peace like the smooth surface of a prairie. But ultimately, she’s learned “that sometimes it’s best / to leave the boxes closed and open instead / the suitcase I spent my entire life packing,” because that truly is the one that will carry her load.
The final poem, “It’s Animal,” ponders how human behavior is not that different from any other animal behavior. The speaker considers her primal love for an adolescent daughter,budding into her teenage years, and a son on the cusp of adulthood, readying himself to take that fledgling flight from home to college. She comments on the little signs of love, noting wryly, “Not much else is little anymore.”
Burkey’s speaker realizes that all of these little moments are intensified by separation anxiety, reflecting on how her behavior mirrors that of the old cows on her parents’ Nebraska ranch, “No matter how many calves they’d had…. They still mooed frantically at weaning time”. She accepts that this is her weaning time. She paces. She yearns. Back then, she wondered why her family cows hadn’t given up sooner. Now she knows, “It’s animal, / this love.”
Burkey parts this collection by putting it in the hands of her reader. These last words are offered, like a prayer held mala bead, for us to take – to love.
About the Author
Jill R. Burkey’s work won the Mark Fischer Poetry Prize, and her poems, which have been called “warm, complex, and intensely satisfying,” have appeared in Deep Wild Journal, Front Range Review, Paddlefish, Pilgrimage, Plainsongs, Sixfold, Soundings Review, and others. Jill grew up on a three-generation cattle ranch in western Nebraska and began her education in a one-room schoolhouse. She later attended Nebraska Wesleyan University where she earned a BA in English and business with endorsements in secondary education. As a writer-in-residence for Colorado Humanities’ Writers-in-the-Schools program, Jill taught poetry and writing to hundreds of elementary and high school students on the Western Slope of Colorado where she lives with her family and runs her own business.
Contributor Bio
Poet, Educator, and Advocate Shelli Rottschafer (she/her/ella) completed her doctorate from the University of New Mexico in 2005 in Latin American Contemporary Literature. From 2006 until 2023 Rottschafer taught Spanish at a small liberal arts college in Michigan. Summer 2023 she began her low-residency MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Poetry at Western Colorado University, Gunnison. She resides in Louisville, Colorado & El Prado, Nuevo México with her partner and rescue pup.
Contents
PCR is calling for submissions of original poetry for the first time between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15. We’re also opening to submissions of poem excerpts from full-length collections. Read this post for details!
Check out new poetry books for the week of 11/5 from Querencia Press, Grid Books, Finishing Line Press, Fireside Industries, Princeton University Press, BOA Editions Ltd, Bloodaxe Books, Button Poetry, University of Pittsburgh Press, Persea, W. W. Norton and Omnidawn.
Chapbook Poem: copper by nat raum
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for November 2024, “copper” from salt box by nat raum, along with a few words from the poet.
Poetry Chapbooks (October 2024)
Check out our round-up of poetry chapbooks published in October 2024 by Two Sylvias Press, Yavanika Press, The Poetry Box, Variant Lit, Kith Books, Newfound, Black Lawrence Press, Diode Editions, Nine Syllables Press, Querencia Press, Bottlecap Press and Finishing Line Press.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 11/12 from Querencia Press, CavanKerry Press, Talonbooks, Finishing Line Press, Black Ocean, University of Calgary Press and University of Wisconsin Press.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 11/19 from Copper Canyon Press. Random House, Winter Editions, Books and Finishing Line Press.
Check out new poetry books for the week of 11/26 from Nightboat Books, Alice James Books, NYRB Poets, Unicorn Publishing Group and Finishing Line Press.
Check out new poetry titles for December 2024 from Green Linden Press, After Hours Editions, White Stag Publishing, Anvil Press, Eulalia Books, Empty Bowl, The Song Cave, Variant Literature, University of Nevada Press, LSU Press, Bloodaxe Books and Tupelo Press.
Poetry Chapbooks (November 2024)
Check out our round-up of poetry chapbooks published in November 2024 by Kith Books, Kernpunkt Press, Finishing Line Press and Bottlecap Press.
Chapbook Poem: After Tragedy by Caiti Quatmann
Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for December 2024, “After Tragedy” from Yoke by Caiti Quatmann, along with a few words from the poet.
Review: The Two Hearts Inside Us by Jill R. Burkey
“Jill R. Burkey dares to question in her chapbook, The Two Hearts Inside Us, because ‘questions breed possibility.'” Read the full chapbook review by new PCR contributor, Shelli Rottschafer.