What Matters: Poems

by Adele Kenny

64 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2011

About the author

Adele Kenny is the author of twenty-six books (poetry & nonfiction) with poems published in journals worldwide, as well as in books and anthologies from Crown, Tuttle, Shambhala, and McGraw-Hill. Her awards include two poetry fellowships from the NJ State Arts Council, first place Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from Kean University. Currently director of the Carriage House Poetry Series (http://carriagehousepoetryseries.blog...) and poetry editor for Tiferet Journal, she is active in readings and conducts both agency-sponsored and private poetry workshops. Her poetry collection, What Matters (view the trailer under "Videos" at left), received the 2012 International Book Award for Poetry and may be ordered via Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/What-Matters-P...).

A Lightness, A Thirst, or Nothing At All (view trailer under "videos" at left) was published in 2015 and is a 2016 Paterson Prize finalist. To order: http://www.amazon.com/Lightness-Thirs...

Adele's most recent book is a collection of 46 poems titled Where Eternity Is Learned (Welcome Rain Publishers, March 25, 2025).

Also among recent books are Wind Over Stones (2019) and Not Asking What If (2016, a collection of 105 new and selected haiku). Adele's books are available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other book sellers.

Reviews

[Melissa Studdard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excerpt from my review in the fall issue of Journal of New Jersey Poets: Technically and in terms of craft, What Matters is a triumphant collection, matching a transcendent poetic sensibility with the small and large victories of the human spirit—its fears, its joys, its ability to persevere. As Stephen Dunn states, “In Adele Kenny’s finely wrought meditations on grief and loss, she never forgets that she’s a maker of poems; in other words, that the poem in its entirety is more important than any one of its utterances, phrasings, or laments.” I would add to this that Kenny also never loses sight of the even larger whole: the poems together as a collection. Because of the careful attention to the smallest of details and the largest of structures, What Matters achieves the kind of overall cohesion that translates into complete, enthralled engagement at every level for the reader.

[Ron Starbuck · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a lyrical thanksgiving where life calls out to life “What Matters” reminds us of the joy we find in life and through our relationship with life, especially through our relationships with family, friends, and the divine mystery. These poems will bring you to the thin points of the world, where you may come to see the eternal transcending power of creation breaking through the borders surrounding us. They are a celebration of life and living, of transformation through the journey of healing, of being itself. Adele Kenny is a master poet, who weaves together for us a new tapestry in the art of living. She leads us down this path with a sacrament of words, offering insights and lessons in living, in how to live life with an openness to all its richness. Well done. Well written. Well shared. Well met.

Ron Starbuck, author of “Wheels Turning Inward – New and Selected Poems.”


Ron Starbuck

[Tricia Dower · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, slim volume of unusual and poignant poems.

[Laura Smyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and inspiring.

[Jeff Darling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Adele writes with a respect for things and people that lends genuine weight to her work. It seems like newer works tend to lack the power and grace that frankly, came from the beauty of the words in older times.

The tender way she adds to the already deep respect one has for their father,mother, imagination of a child to a maple grove lends such beauty it bears reading a dozen times to experience its fullness.(As in the music in it-'for my father' and 'crooked mercy', 'in which' and 'selling the family house' for my mother0

Adele's deft deft handling and granting of simple dignity in the words she chooses in several pieces on Cancer are truly reflections and observations without self pitying. It is in these poignant pieces that I get such a strong sense of who this woman is; her strength and gift for dignity.

These are poems that will stand the test of time. Thank You, Adele

[Cassaundra Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of poems was so beautifully written, I could read it again and again. Every poem has a story, some made me laugh, some made me cry, some were inspiring, ALL were beautifully written, and so real that you couldn't help but cry through some of them. Pure, raw, and important to many women today who are struggling with breast cancer, or someone who has helped a family member through it. A poem that can not only tell you about the fear, and the sadness, but also show it to you, and make you feel it, is the best kind of poem, Adele Kenny has that effect through her poems. Outstanding!

I received this book from Goodreads First Reads.

[Michael Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Matters is a collection that confronts darkness and the fear of death without being ponderous. It offers hope and light without being insipid or sentimental. More than my brief review can detail, it explores the complex point at which memory and mortality, identity and death are intimately connected. And this is all accomplished with a music and imagery that will please any reader.

This is part of my review, which can be viewed here: http://inermusic.blogspot.com/2012/01....

[Michael Redmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adele Kenney writes spare, modest and beautiful poems of keen-eyed, open-hearted sensibility and spiritual depth. WHAT MATTERS is a book to go back to, again and again.