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Running Counterclockwise
"Alarie Tennille listens to the things of this world, hungry to transform them into a language and tone that will linger long in a reader’s mind. By turns amused, fascinated, repulsed, and deeply moved, she explores the vagaries and brilliances and sorrows of her surroundings and reports back. With the eye of a painter—indeed, many of the poems are informed by paintings—Tennille notes that “every green is its own green,/sometimes not green at all.” Here is mystery and beckoning and surprise. While her style is straightforward and clear, it’s the passion for her subjects that characterizes Tennille’s work--no skating merely on the surface here. We may not become better human beings after reading Running Counterclockwise, but if not, the fault will be our own. In this collection, Tennille offers us our chances, poem by compassionate, wise, and ironic poem."
--Jo McDougall, author of Dirt and Satisfied with Havoc
--Jo McDougall, author of Dirt and Satisfied with Havoc
- GenresPoetry
102 pages, Paperback
First published February 2, 2014
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Alarie Tennille
13 books90 followersAlarie Tennille was born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia with a genius older brother destined for NASA, a ghost, and a yard full of cats. Alarie graduated in the first coed class at the University of Virginia with a B.A. in English, Phi Beta Kappa key, and black belt in feminism. She met her husband, graphic artist Chris Purcell, in college. She still misses the ocean, but loves the writing community she’s found in Kansas City.
After a career ranging from technical editor to greeting card writer, Alarie is retired and has more time to focus on her poetry writing. She serves on the Emeritus Board of The Writers Place.
Alarie has three poetry collections published by Kelsay Books: Running Counterclockwise, Waking on the Moon, and Three A.M. at the Museum. You may see the various awards and other insights on each of her books on Amazon and on Alarie's website. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals including The Ekphrastic Review, Margie, Poetry East, Coal City Review, I-70 Review, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Southern Women’s Review, and MockingHeart Review.
Alarie has reincarnated her original website
and hopes you'll stop by to check it out and subscribe. (site listed below) Thank you!
After a career ranging from technical editor to greeting card writer, Alarie is retired and has more time to focus on her poetry writing. She serves on the Emeritus Board of The Writers Place.
Alarie has three poetry collections published by Kelsay Books: Running Counterclockwise, Waking on the Moon, and Three A.M. at the Museum. You may see the various awards and other insights on each of her books on Amazon and on Alarie's website. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals including The Ekphrastic Review, Margie, Poetry East, Coal City Review, I-70 Review, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Southern Women’s Review, and MockingHeart Review.
Alarie has reincarnated her original website
and hopes you'll stop by to check it out and subscribe. (site listed below) Thank you!
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 14, 2017
Tennille’s poems are full of rich imagery and details, subtle use of humor, and the surprise turn. As implied by the title, passage of time is a unifying theme in this collection. The book is divided into five sections, with reference to time in the headings (Speeding Goodbye, Slowing Time). To me, the word counterclockwise conjures thoughts of going backwards in time, either through poems about the past, or loss of memory. Poems about childhood and family capture moments and crystallize them for the reader. “Whatshisname” is a poignant depiction of Alzheimer’s, where a mother “Began/calling everyone George.” Ordinary moments many of us are familiar with, until the unexpected turn at the end, where we discover “that name belonged to mama’s/ childhood sweetheart.”
Tennille masters the technique of ekphrastic poetry. Her poems are able to stand on their own merits as poems, even if the reader is not familiar with the art works. Tennille favors the Impressionist and Surrealist painters.
Among the splashes of blue
and purple I see gray faces,
but can’t tell if they’re Monet’s
ghosts or my own.
( Monet’s Water Lilies)
One of my favorite poems is “Bequest,” which starts with “Twenty-nine French Impressionist/ paintings have been promised/ to the local museum. The speaker then ponders “what it would be like/ to donate 29 of my poems, to open/ a new poetry wing at the museum.”
Another favorite poem imagines the nightlife of paperclips after “lights out in the office.” They “grab a cab uptown/ to a jazz club” and “Before the sober sun/ can nag, stagger/ back to work.” The marvelous alliteration moves the poem along as though it becomes part of the jazz club.
The poetic techniques are well-employed in that they don’t overpower the poem. Tennille’s voice is quiet and thoughtful, her lines and language controlled, and her poems are a wonderful read.
Tennille masters the technique of ekphrastic poetry. Her poems are able to stand on their own merits as poems, even if the reader is not familiar with the art works. Tennille favors the Impressionist and Surrealist painters.
Among the splashes of blue
and purple I see gray faces,
but can’t tell if they’re Monet’s
ghosts or my own.
( Monet’s Water Lilies)
One of my favorite poems is “Bequest,” which starts with “Twenty-nine French Impressionist/ paintings have been promised/ to the local museum. The speaker then ponders “what it would be like/ to donate 29 of my poems, to open/ a new poetry wing at the museum.”
Another favorite poem imagines the nightlife of paperclips after “lights out in the office.” They “grab a cab uptown/ to a jazz club” and “Before the sober sun/ can nag, stagger/ back to work.” The marvelous alliteration moves the poem along as though it becomes part of the jazz club.
The poetic techniques are well-employed in that they don’t overpower the poem. Tennille’s voice is quiet and thoughtful, her lines and language controlled, and her poems are a wonderful read.
May 27, 2015
It’s interesting that the first poem in Alarie Tennille’s Running Counterclockwise sets the stage for a book about life’s smaller moments, about “the soft sameness” of each ordinary day—because what follows in most of her poems are moments that are anything but small or ordinary. For example, “The Gift” is centered around a Christmas memory so visceral, it looms large in the speaker’s mind for the rest of her life. It’s a poem that struck me as funny the first time I read it; profoundly sad the second. Similarly, “Togetherness” is a poem I found humorous until the end, which was so unflinchingly and matter-of-factly honest it made me blink in surprise.
Tennille often delivers a gut punch, as in the end of her poem “Whatshisname.” I had to put the book down for a few moments, that deceptively subtle ending affected me so powerfully. “Speeding Goodbye” contains another such moment. While the poem’s subject is obviously sad—the death of the speaker’s mother—the ending provides an additional layer of grief I didn’t see coming. Tennille doesn’t deliver these surprises to be cruel—or worse, gratuitous. She is merely reminding readers of the moments they did not see coming in their own lives. More than once while reading this book, I recalled the shock of my mother telling me at sixteen that my father had died while I was at the movies. Tennille’s words made me consider not just her stories, but my own as well.
I highly recommend Running Counterclockwise. Tennille’s style is engaging (especially in “To a Friend Now Dead”), witty (“Staying Together for the Kids”), often beautiful (“Slowing Time”). Though I meant to read only a few poems before bed last night, I stayed up late to finish the whole collection. This is a special book.
Tennille often delivers a gut punch, as in the end of her poem “Whatshisname.” I had to put the book down for a few moments, that deceptively subtle ending affected me so powerfully. “Speeding Goodbye” contains another such moment. While the poem’s subject is obviously sad—the death of the speaker’s mother—the ending provides an additional layer of grief I didn’t see coming. Tennille doesn’t deliver these surprises to be cruel—or worse, gratuitous. She is merely reminding readers of the moments they did not see coming in their own lives. More than once while reading this book, I recalled the shock of my mother telling me at sixteen that my father had died while I was at the movies. Tennille’s words made me consider not just her stories, but my own as well.
I highly recommend Running Counterclockwise. Tennille’s style is engaging (especially in “To a Friend Now Dead”), witty (“Staying Together for the Kids”), often beautiful (“Slowing Time”). Though I meant to read only a few poems before bed last night, I stayed up late to finish the whole collection. This is a special book.
May 7, 2016
Time. Like death, it is one of the universal themes of literature (and hey, death is an embedded aspect of time, no?). In this fine collection, Alarie Tennille gives time the Janus treatment by looking in both directions and finding inspiration for poetry. The collection is an eclectic mix of family, memories, insightful observations on society, and (wildcard!) ekphrastic poems that serve as frosting on the cake.
In "Bequest," Tennille wonders "what it would be like/to donate 29 of my poems, to open/a new poetry wing at a museum." This is one of the earliest of many poems to link poetry and painting, often with water lilies and Monet in particular as the mortar.
The bittersweet "Speeding Good-Bye" uses a mother's death and protecting a father from it to good effect: "
...So we
packed her tiny shoes and bright
dresses of Goodwill,
kept just just a few pieces of jewelry.
We left him no nightgown
to cradle, no familiar cologne,
no hint she might only
have gone to work for the day.
A cruel kindness.
Other entries using imagery or wry observation include these favorites: "To a Friend Now Dead" about an old high school friend who avoided the camera; "The Gift" about a stapler Dad foolishly gifted Mom for Christmas (and boy, howdy, can men relate to this poem!); "Anastasia" about a women who claimed to be the Romanov great until death and DNA tests out her; "In Pursuit," which uses the metaphor of a cat chasing a reflection to humans pursuing happiness (Thomas Jefferson-like); and "I Predict," a nifty morality meditation on fortune mis-tellers.
All in all, a fast and enjoyable trip through time and a collection to be proud of!
In "Bequest," Tennille wonders "what it would be like/to donate 29 of my poems, to open/a new poetry wing at a museum." This is one of the earliest of many poems to link poetry and painting, often with water lilies and Monet in particular as the mortar.
The bittersweet "Speeding Good-Bye" uses a mother's death and protecting a father from it to good effect: "
...So we
packed her tiny shoes and bright
dresses of Goodwill,
kept just just a few pieces of jewelry.
We left him no nightgown
to cradle, no familiar cologne,
no hint she might only
have gone to work for the day.
A cruel kindness.
Other entries using imagery or wry observation include these favorites: "To a Friend Now Dead" about an old high school friend who avoided the camera; "The Gift" about a stapler Dad foolishly gifted Mom for Christmas (and boy, howdy, can men relate to this poem!); "Anastasia" about a women who claimed to be the Romanov great until death and DNA tests out her; "In Pursuit," which uses the metaphor of a cat chasing a reflection to humans pursuing happiness (Thomas Jefferson-like); and "I Predict," a nifty morality meditation on fortune mis-tellers.
All in all, a fast and enjoyable trip through time and a collection to be proud of!
March 18, 2015
Enriching! The poet says just enough, then stops, suspending me between reality and a dream world. The poems inspired by artworks are especially captivating. Poignant, accessible, well crafted poetry. I'm glad I read this book, and recommend it to all poetry lovers.
February 6, 2016
Alarie Tennille's RUNNING COUNTERCLOCKWISE exhibits the expertise of an accomplished writer, which Ms. Tennille certainly is. With her use of detailed imagery (including in the title) and her flowing language, she creates fresh, emotive poems that touch the reader without being sentimental.
This flowing book comprises five sections: Speeding Goodbye, Coming to Stay, What We Keep, Slowing Time, and Too Dangerous to Stop, which connect the time and travel metaphors serving as the kernel meaning of this collection. And Alarie Tennille's poems weave in images that flow into that kernel.
In the first section, Tennille employs numerous ekphrastic poems, such as "Paul Cezanne: Boy in a Red Vest" and "Vincent Van Gogh: The Night Cafe (1888)" to illustrate time and its circular motion. For instance, in the former, the persona notes, "Cezanne persists in painting/him again,/again,/again until he/is captured" (22), and she alludes to Cezanne's apples, also circular, to emphasize that quality connected with time. The Van Gogh poem opens with "i:15 a.m. Late only" and includes a line "fresh from her noon rising" (23), further enhancing the time image.
Coming to Stay, the second section, not only refers to the author's relocation to Kansas City, Missouri, from Portsmouth, Virginia, it also comprises poems with a persona who not only looks backwards (such as the collection title suggests) at an early life but overcomes that past. "The Bogeyman Still Stalks" shows the persona reflecting--and overcoming--a childhood terror: "He still makes me jump/out of meanness,/but the childhood bully/has grown old and frail" (36). The persona in "Staying Together for the Kids" recreates a happier childhood memory via her dreams:
For months I dream
of visiting my parents.
The air is not choked
with cigarette smoke, not
charged with recrimination.
No one is hung over (37)
The What We Keep section suggests that we bring the past to the present via talismen to which we cling to make time last--or bring the past to the present, as in "Clutter," where the persona "must choose/what is worth keeping forever" (45). This theme recurs in "The Quilters of Gee's Bend," where quilters "[p]ieced together/remnants of Africa/and raggedy dreams/to make something new" (49). The quilters were "pulling up/memories each night" (50), and those memories became "art," which, with luck, lasts "eternally."
In Slowing Time (the fourth section), Tennille employs numerous ekphrastic poems, including, of course, "Dali's Clocks" to enhance the time imagery. Two poems in this section also illustrate time as Kronos, that deity who causes aging and the ills arriving with it. First, "Negotiations Are at a Standstill" shows the anguish between the mind and body that aging and illness causes
My left shoulder refuses to work.
Fortunately, my writing hand carries on,
while the left fences awkwardly
with its sword of pain . . . (81).
Then, "Shut Up! No, YOU Shut Up!"a more light-hearted poem, illustrates an aging persona who has grown strong enough to battle a bullying conscience that repeatedly tries to burden her with guilt:
Put my conscience on the No Call List.
Said goodbye to interruptions at diner:
Put down that fork! No more
wine either. Forget dessert (83)
The last section, Too Dangerous to Stop, along with exploring health concerns that Old Kronos brings, also takes the time imagery full-circle. Written in tercets, a poem containing this collection's lushest imagery, "La Rochelle, France" concludes with time's circular nature: "I gaze west to the far Virginia shore, picture/my younger self looking for her future" (98).
I urge users to buy this book. It's accessible and an enjoyable read.
This flowing book comprises five sections: Speeding Goodbye, Coming to Stay, What We Keep, Slowing Time, and Too Dangerous to Stop, which connect the time and travel metaphors serving as the kernel meaning of this collection. And Alarie Tennille's poems weave in images that flow into that kernel.
In the first section, Tennille employs numerous ekphrastic poems, such as "Paul Cezanne: Boy in a Red Vest" and "Vincent Van Gogh: The Night Cafe (1888)" to illustrate time and its circular motion. For instance, in the former, the persona notes, "Cezanne persists in painting/him again,/again,/again until he/is captured" (22), and she alludes to Cezanne's apples, also circular, to emphasize that quality connected with time. The Van Gogh poem opens with "i:15 a.m. Late only" and includes a line "fresh from her noon rising" (23), further enhancing the time image.
Coming to Stay, the second section, not only refers to the author's relocation to Kansas City, Missouri, from Portsmouth, Virginia, it also comprises poems with a persona who not only looks backwards (such as the collection title suggests) at an early life but overcomes that past. "The Bogeyman Still Stalks" shows the persona reflecting--and overcoming--a childhood terror: "He still makes me jump/out of meanness,/but the childhood bully/has grown old and frail" (36). The persona in "Staying Together for the Kids" recreates a happier childhood memory via her dreams:
For months I dream
of visiting my parents.
The air is not choked
with cigarette smoke, not
charged with recrimination.
No one is hung over (37)
The What We Keep section suggests that we bring the past to the present via talismen to which we cling to make time last--or bring the past to the present, as in "Clutter," where the persona "must choose/what is worth keeping forever" (45). This theme recurs in "The Quilters of Gee's Bend," where quilters "[p]ieced together/remnants of Africa/and raggedy dreams/to make something new" (49). The quilters were "pulling up/memories each night" (50), and those memories became "art," which, with luck, lasts "eternally."
In Slowing Time (the fourth section), Tennille employs numerous ekphrastic poems, including, of course, "Dali's Clocks" to enhance the time imagery. Two poems in this section also illustrate time as Kronos, that deity who causes aging and the ills arriving with it. First, "Negotiations Are at a Standstill" shows the anguish between the mind and body that aging and illness causes
My left shoulder refuses to work.
Fortunately, my writing hand carries on,
while the left fences awkwardly
with its sword of pain . . . (81).
Then, "Shut Up! No, YOU Shut Up!"a more light-hearted poem, illustrates an aging persona who has grown strong enough to battle a bullying conscience that repeatedly tries to burden her with guilt:
Put my conscience on the No Call List.
Said goodbye to interruptions at diner:
Put down that fork! No more
wine either. Forget dessert (83)
The last section, Too Dangerous to Stop, along with exploring health concerns that Old Kronos brings, also takes the time imagery full-circle. Written in tercets, a poem containing this collection's lushest imagery, "La Rochelle, France" concludes with time's circular nature: "I gaze west to the far Virginia shore, picture/my younger self looking for her future" (98).
I urge users to buy this book. It's accessible and an enjoyable read.
February 20, 2014
There is a beautiful accessibility to Alarie Tennille’s poems, with an economy of words that might leave you thinking, “I can write something like that.” Except that you probably can’t, because the mark of a true artist is knowing what to leave out just as much as it is knowing what to put in. Tennille has been a professional writer for many years, and that skill at making descriptive prose seem effortless is at work here.
The collection of 70 poems that make up Running Counterclockwise covers a wide range of subjects, including childhood, mortality, alcoholism and the cold, gray bleakness of a Kansas City winter. There are thoughtful tributes to the art of Monet and Van Gogh, amusing observations on aging, profiles of eccentric characters, and loving recollections of friendships and family. There are visits to Virginia and the Carolinas and France. There is a devastating eight-line account ripped from a newspaper’s metro section, called “It Never Adds Up.”
As someone who once scored a 52 on his AP English poetry exam, I am no expert at dissecting and analyzing poetry. However, I found Tennille’s writings here to be thought-provoking and instantly relatable, like looking at a favorite painting from a slightly different angle and discovering some detail you previously missed. That, to me, is what good writing is about: taking what you already know, or what you think you know, and, with just a few words, making it exciting and new again.
The collection of 70 poems that make up Running Counterclockwise covers a wide range of subjects, including childhood, mortality, alcoholism and the cold, gray bleakness of a Kansas City winter. There are thoughtful tributes to the art of Monet and Van Gogh, amusing observations on aging, profiles of eccentric characters, and loving recollections of friendships and family. There are visits to Virginia and the Carolinas and France. There is a devastating eight-line account ripped from a newspaper’s metro section, called “It Never Adds Up.”
As someone who once scored a 52 on his AP English poetry exam, I am no expert at dissecting and analyzing poetry. However, I found Tennille’s writings here to be thought-provoking and instantly relatable, like looking at a favorite painting from a slightly different angle and discovering some detail you previously missed. That, to me, is what good writing is about: taking what you already know, or what you think you know, and, with just a few words, making it exciting and new again.
February 20, 2014
Review for Running Counterclockwise
Alarie Tennille
Other than her splendid chapbook and appearances in literary magazines, I have known Alarie Tennille’s poetry from hearing her read it out loud. After reading her new book Running Counterclockwise, I’ve enjoyed the familiar poems all over again in a new way, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading the new ones. They’re like little nuggets, and ultimately, the book is over way too soon.
Tennille’s poems are crisp and lean, and her signature is a little unexpected zing at the end of each poem. The poems offer pithy bits of wisdom, little jabs, surprising turns, and her writing offers some aptly chosen images. In “Elephants Nageurs,” the elephant trunks “curl upward/snorkeling air and waving/hallelujah like a gospel choir.” Even when she describes something as mundane as Melamine plates she says, “Those dishes outlasted Mom, undented, /but cross-hatched by the daily scrape/of knives.” In her poem “New Year’s Eve 2010,” she offers this stunning image, “No death dropping/like paper cutouts/from the midnight sky:/four thousand blackbirds, /red targets on their wings, /necks and legs splayed/in unlifelike angles.” Accessible, economical and imagistic, these poems reward, and the reader will relate to many of the topics Tennille explores, proving this collection universal for us all.
Alarie Tennille
Other than her splendid chapbook and appearances in literary magazines, I have known Alarie Tennille’s poetry from hearing her read it out loud. After reading her new book Running Counterclockwise, I’ve enjoyed the familiar poems all over again in a new way, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading the new ones. They’re like little nuggets, and ultimately, the book is over way too soon.
Tennille’s poems are crisp and lean, and her signature is a little unexpected zing at the end of each poem. The poems offer pithy bits of wisdom, little jabs, surprising turns, and her writing offers some aptly chosen images. In “Elephants Nageurs,” the elephant trunks “curl upward/snorkeling air and waving/hallelujah like a gospel choir.” Even when she describes something as mundane as Melamine plates she says, “Those dishes outlasted Mom, undented, /but cross-hatched by the daily scrape/of knives.” In her poem “New Year’s Eve 2010,” she offers this stunning image, “No death dropping/like paper cutouts/from the midnight sky:/four thousand blackbirds, /red targets on their wings, /necks and legs splayed/in unlifelike angles.” Accessible, economical and imagistic, these poems reward, and the reader will relate to many of the topics Tennille explores, proving this collection universal for us all.
October 13, 2016
I really enjoyed meeting Alarie at the poetry Hickory event at my creative writing teacher's coffee shop. I also enjoyed hearing her reading of some of these poems. I really liked how she used famous artist such as Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, and just reading the poems and knowing these little things just really added something for me. I also must admit that her witty endings in some of the poems really entertained me.
September 28, 2023
Words cannot convey how much I enjoyed this book. Eloquent.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews