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Falling Stars Called Her
Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: 2021/08 – August
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Lured by the beauty of their bucolic spaces and untrammeled scenery, the North Carolina mountains have long been a mecca and an inspiration for writers.
Now another skilled young author has emerged with ties to the region. Though a native New Yorker, Palmer Smith spent 15 years at summer camp in Cashiers. The split between the North and South has shaped her perspective and identity.
She recalls, “I was able to truly appreciate the quiet of the mountains, the fog on the lake in the mornings. The first falling star I ever saw was in Cashiers. So, the geography of Western North Carolina has influenced me quite a bit.”
Smith’s debut book of poetry and short stories, The Butterfly Bruises, is a riveting compilation of daily experiences and conversations, grief and joy, childhood and family, nature versus technology, and the imagination of the introvert.
The product of years of writing, the collection is divided into six themed sections of poetry and a final chapter of short stories. Of the six poetry sections, she is most proud of the one titled “Moonshine Boy.” It is here that she deals with her Southern experiences and explores the contrasts of the cultures of South and North.
She is eager to bring the reader’s attention to climate change issues, and in a part entitled “Symbiosis,” Smith underscores conservation concerns – paying careful homage to the layered worlds of animals and ocean – of manatees and butterflies, silverfish and dog.
Her poems confront issues of toxic relationships and miscommunication while all the while addressing issues of death and life. The overarching theme of the book is that of transformation and the inevitability of change, and she hopes that “readers finish my book and think of change in a more positive light.”
In some of the poems, language is stretched and skewed and staggered across the page – a way of representing through style, Smith’s omissions, the things she could not say.
The Butterfly Bruises has received glowing praise from bestselling novelist Mary Morris who noted that Palmer “…takes risks with these poems and stories, experimenting with form, allowing the words on the page to transcend themselves. This is deep, moving work.”
Palmer is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and a current MFA student at Sewanee and MA student at the University of Virginia.
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