Wtf: Poems

by Laura Davies Foley

Laura Foley's "WTF" refers to her father's initials and, slyly, to the abbreviated colloquial exclamation, in a pun that laughs and cuts, in this reckoning with a fraught father-daughter relationship. These spare poems communicate more like snapshots than narrative lyrics, beginning with sympathy and gratitude, moving through disappointment, anger and resentment, without ever losing compassion, as Foley examines her father's formative WWII experiences and, consequently, how he shaped her experience and character, ending with a positive recognition of her father in herself.

Genres: Poetry

29 pages, Paperback

Published February 17, 2017

About the author

Laura Foley is the author of five poetry collections. The Glass Tree won the Foreword Book of the Year Award, Silver, and was a Finalist for the New Hampshire Writer’s Project, Outstanding Book of Poetry. Joy Street won the Bi-Writer’s Award. Her poems have appeared in journals and magazines including Valparaiso Poetry Review, Inquiring Mind, Pulse Magazine, Poetry Nook, Lavender Review, The Mom Egg Review and in the British Aesthetica Magazine. She won Harpur Palate’s Milton Kessler Memorial Poetry Award and the Grand Prize for the Atlanta Review’s International Poetry Contest.

Reviews

[Kassie Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to win this in a giveaway and I enjoyed this book. It is a collections of poems written in memory of her father and her internal feelings she had being his daughter.They are beautifully written and I found myself relating to just a few of them.I would recommend reading this especially if you don't have the best relationship with your father.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally posted on my blog, Musings of a Bookish Kitty:
http://www.literaryfeline.com/2017/05...

WTF: Poems by Laura Foley
Cw Books, 2017
Nonfiction; 34 pgs
Source: Review copy provided by author for an honest review (via Poetic Book Tour)

A couple years ago, I read Joy Street, a collection of poetry by Laura Foley, and when asked if I wanted to be a part of her WTF: Poems tour, it did not take me long to agree. Especially when I discovered what her new collection of poetry was about. My own relationship with my father was . . . complicated. Like Foley's father, mine was a war veteran, and was greatly impacted by his brief time in Vietnam. Growing up, I wanted so much to understand my dad, what he'd been through, why he was the way he was. He was a difficult and closed man, however, sometimes cruel.

Many of the poems in WTF affected me quite deeply, bringing tears to my eyes. It is a short collection of poems, poems of her father's experiences during World War II and those of her own childhood or experiences with her father. She writes of her father's experience as a prisoner of war and of his accomplishments, how demanding and hard he was on his first wife and children. I got a real sense of Laura's conflicted feelings about her father.

I do not consider myself an academic admirer of poetry. Rather, I am attracted to poetry that I am able to connect to and to how it makes me feel. As a result, Foley's style appeals to me, the simplicity and straightforwardness in each of her poems. They are full of her memories and rich in feeling. I could relate to some of what she expressed through her poetry. Feeling like I was not good enough or was found wanting in some way, for example.

One of her poem that spoke to me was "Hindsight". "Ghost Street" was another one, beginning with "People speak of wanting to relive a day in their youth, wishing the dead alive." It was the final line of the poem that especially resonated with me. It being my truth too. The final poem, "Family Photograph" is a good way to end, and also one I especially liked and could relate to. It captures a happy moment in her childhood life, one of pride.

Laura Foley is one of those poets whose poetry inspires me to keep writing my own.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this might be a short book of poems it reveals an abundance of insight into Laura's father, a mentally fragmented man of war, and the lifelong relationship between the two. Unquestionably, brief in words, the poems contain the extent of knowledge, emotions, and insight felt as if I had read a full novel. Additionally, sometimes in a composition of poems, one might stand out more than the others that I relate to more, but this did not occur in this book I found each poem equally poignant therefore each one containing a favorable flow telling its own part of the tale. Finally, I learned something crucial that war does not only shatter the individual who fights in it but also negatively affects the next generation. Overall, WTF is a remarkable read. I have read it four times and am looking forward to reading more of Laura Foley's work in the near future.

To read a sample poem go to Readaholic Zone

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. A giveaway from Goodreads. I liked half and wasn't fond of the other half, which usually would mean 3 stars, but the ones I liked are very well done. Hence that extra 1/2 star.

[Yvette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura Foley reminds our hearts of the connection we so desperately yearn to share with our fathers. Quite often we're left with questionable memories and a tangled mess of fear and pain and distance. 'Paternalogue in Dad's Voice' and 'Daddy's Girls' beautifully summed it all up in simple language.