Dawn Mcduffie

Happenstance and Miracles Dawn Mcduffie

Happenstance and Miracles examines the nature of daily life by looking closely at the invisible aspects of objects we touch, houses we inhabit, and streets we use every day. An ancient demon trap bowl may have a practical use for a 21st century reader. Buttons have their own desires and sense of duty, and a pot of lentil soup may conceal some genuine anger. This is a world a reader can recognize. The people in these poems sometimes find the weight of the invisible challenging. An older woman is afraid of her stairs at night, and is sure the light switch has moved to a new location. She knows how many people have died from falling. A young woman, deeply in love, cooks chopped liver and apple crisp for a New Year's Eve feast she plans to share. Yet even apple crisp contains a hidden narrative of Biblical poetry and the narrator's need to contradict some of those voices. It's a book where the well known becomes unfamiliar, and the world is more dangerous but also more beautiful than one ever suspected.