Glass Cabin

by Tina Mozelle Braziel, James Braziel

GLASS CABIN CHRONICLES the thirteen years Tina Mozelle Braziel and James Braziel spent building their home out of secondhand tin, tornado-snapped power poles, and church glass on a waterless ridge in rural Alabama. Their alternating voices support one another like parts of their cabin-every board needs its nail, every window needs its frame. These poems explore the work it takes to measure cuts for stairs, to haul water-one ton at a time-up the side of the mountain, and to write. It is also a meditation on hope, on frustration, and their place in the wilder parts of the world.

Genres: Poetry, Memoir

226 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2024

Reviews

[Paulette Guerin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glass Cabin offers two poets in conversation and each of their perspectives on the same event: building a sustainable glass cabin in the Alabama woods. The poems express the challenges the Braziels faced as well as their triumphs. The poems can stand alone, yet they also tell a narrative, describing the logistics and hard-earned wisdom as the reader gets a how-to (as well as a how-not-to) build a house from scratch. More importantly, love infuses the poems as the poems speak to each other—love between the authors, as well as their love for the earth and their shared vision. Gratitude permeates the tone—completion of the hardest things leaves a sheen of appreciation for every drop of water, for living the life they dreamed, and for surviving what it took to achieve that dream.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

If ever dual authorship was justified in a book, it’s this one. Co-worker and co-worker; lover and lover; wife and husband, Tina Mozelle Braziel and James Braziel have written a wondrous book of connected poems and short, pointed prose. This is a heartwarming paean to nature and love.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

[Heather Dent · Rating 4 out of 5]

The love letters in this book were especially sweet and inspired me to start writing love notes to my husband again.