Exile's Choice

Pedersen's choice speaks to us essentially of a common experience, a state of exile that manifests itself in many ways, from one place to another, from one age to another, from one human encounter to another, even from one self to another self. His exile confirms the almost-physical residency of a poetic voice in whatever country/language he migrates to, with verses of rare lyrical quality and effective communication, through the idyll and the epos, memory and self-analysis, blues and irony, by which readers feel not merely involved but recognizable in their own movement through their inner lives. That's the choice that chooses us.

Enrico De Lea, Italian poet, author of Ruderi di Tauro, Da un'urgenza della terra-luce, and others

In a time when more of us than ever know what it feels like to experience an impossible distance from our own normal lives, this collection provides a nostalgia for a familiar former life with the joyful normalcy of growing at-home within a new country. Pedersen explores the merging of cultures and memory through every-day experiences: the sharing of meals, memories of childhood moments that feel as alive today as they did then, the introspection and bargaining that comes with grieving the loss of a dear friend our own age. Pedersen captures these moments like snapshots, allowing us to travel with him through the touching, simple moments and memories that make up a life.

Elli Sandis, English teacher.

This collection of selected poems highlights Martin Pedersen's gift for keen observation and quirky description of the ordinary and the poignant. Writing on a boundary, with one leg in Sicily and the other in California, Martin Pedersen watches relationships as they unfurl and then takes a photo of a moment, capturing it with a phrase, and inviting us to see and feel something new. These poems/stories/life encounters are so vividly expressed that they will linger with you once you're finished with them, simply because they're not finished with you.

Michael G. Bausch, author of Drawn In: Dramatic Encounters With Art