Pivot

by Debbie Richard

Winner of 2019 New York Book Festival Honorable Mention for Poetry.

This collection of poetic works articulates turning points that result in drastic change, realization, and understanding. From an Olympian ice arena to the cool cement floor of an Appalachian cellar, “PIVOT” takes the reader on a tour of poems spanning a broad spectrum of people, places, events, and time periods. From simple household chores to the emotional discovery of a mother's precious heirloom and "going for the gold," turning points channel, challenge, and change the course of our existence and clarify our purpose.

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2019

About the author

Debbie Richard is listed in the Directory of Poets & Writers as both a poet and creative nonfiction writer. Her poem, RAPUNZEL, was shortlisted for Best Poem in Adelaide Literary Award for Poetry, 2018. Her poems have appeared in Torrid Literature Journal, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Scarlet Leaf Review, WestWard Quarterly, Halcyon Days, and others. “Resiliency,” a chapbook of poetry, was published in 2012 by Finishing Line Press. “Hills of Home,” a memoir about growing up in Appalachia, was released in 2014 by eLectio Publishing (Audiobook of Hills of Home was released by Sweetsong Productions in October 2018 and is available on Audible.com), “PIVOT,” an illustrated book of poetry was published in January 2019 by Adelaide Books of New York, CROSSWINDS, her newest volume of poetry was released by Finishing Line Press in November 2021.

Debbie Richard is a native of West Virginia. Born in Parkersburg, she spent her early childhood in the rural community of Munday in Wirt County, and lived near Walton in Roane County during her high school years. Debbie studied Secretarial Science at West Virginia Career College in Charleston where she completed her courses in 1987 with honors. She moved to the South as an adult, following her love of the ocean. She moved back to her home state of West Virginia in 2015. Debbie is a member of South Carolina Writers Association and West Virginia Writers, Inc.

Praise for PIVOT:

“Debbie Richard, in her poems, poignantly observes the values and needs, the pains and joys, in the human and natural worlds. She meshes all with the spiritual, her appreciation showered with grace, honesty, and love, and, finally, acceptance of what she cannot change. I love her poems.”
~DAVID SELBY, renown actor and author of Promises of Love and My Mother's Autumn

Praise for Hills of Home:

"I think the book is a valuable detailed and most honest documentation of a part of Appalachia that has not been celebrated so well until now."

--Earl Hamner, Jr., bestselling author of Spencer's Mountain and creator of the beloved The Waltons television series

Reviews

[Rita Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Pivot, Debbie Richards takes the reader on a roller coast ride of thoughts and feelings as she delivers beautifully written poetic messages. Pilferer, one of my favorites, with rhythm and rhyme, so perfect, reminds me, somewhat, of Keats. While others simply touched me with her understanding of the human soul. The words engulfing with their depth. The ability to write poetry is a wonderful gift bestowed on a few. Debbie Richards has proved a worthy possessor of such a gift.

JUST LOVE HER POETRY.

[Wv_mouth8yahoo.Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book of poems and short stories. The author captivated me right into the story line. This is a read and reread. My nightstand book.
Awe inspiring you must read.

[Elizabeth Gauffreau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Debbie Richard’s poetry collection PIVOT takes as its theme those human moments of recognition that come from connection to place, the passage of time, loss, regret, joy, and renewal--and in a clear, direct voice calls us to be mindful of them all. I took care to read these poems late at night, when the house was quiet, and I could linger over my favorite lines and reflect on what these words had to tell me:

“There’s a place in the country / where a little white church once stood.”
“I caught your gentle fingertips, / No--it was only a small piece of debris,”
“the wind chimes on the veranda / as they rattle in the breeze,”
“How I miss those days, working together in the kitchen, / Mama and daughter, side by side.”

Other standout moments in the collection were the last line of “Changed”; drinking cold, clear water from a mountain spring as a spiritual act in “Incessant”; and several poems of rhymed verse that reminded me of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses and the pleasure and comfort I took from being read to as a child by my father.

Also of note were Ashley Teets’ soft-focused drawings that served as a counterpoint to the poems at key points in the collection. The drawings evoking sense of place were my favorites.

What I appreciated most about reading the poems in PIVOT was their accessibility, which, for me as a reader, represents a true generosity of spirit on the part of the poet. These poems invite the reader in: Come, share this moment with me; let your experience speak to mine.

“The Years between the Dashes” ends with the question, “It’s my life’s legacy--did you notice?” The life’s legacy of a poet is the poems she leaves behind, along with the readers she has touched in ways both small and profound, readers who will urge others to experience these poems themselves, to be touched and moved in their own ways. PIVOT is such a legacy, and yes, I did notice.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads Giveaway

A nice collection of eclectic poems revolving around change with some beautiful illustrations to accompany them.