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Sugar Fix
The subjects of poetry are the love and loss, sex and death and grief, family in all its permutations and complications. The differences are in the telling, and Kory Wells is a powerful teller. Her poems are as layered and dense as her grandmother's Red Velvet cake. What is it, she asks, that makes us want to swallow // a story whole? To think // only one version can be true? With a clear eye, she confronts the paradoxes that gender, race, and heritage present. She writes from a rootedness in her homeland that reaches down generations. She writes as a citizen of this troubled I'm unlearning the urge for a sugar fix like I'm unlearning // my threshold for what is acceptable, terrible, commonplace. // Tell me I don't have to unlearn hope. She does what we ask of the poet. All that we ask. --Marie Harris, former New Hampshire Poet Laureate
- GenresPoetry
118 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 23, 2019
About the author
Kory Wells
3 books9 followersKory Wells grew up on the stories of her southern Appalachian family and the wonder of the Space Age, diverse influences that have shaped her life's work and writing. A former software developer, she's now on her second act as a writer, storyteller, and advocate for for the arts, democracy, and other good causes. She recently served two terms as the inaugural Poet Laureate of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where she's lived most of her life.
Kory's poems appear in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including the Tennessee edition of THE SOUTHERN POETRY ANTHOLOGY. She also performs her poetry on the album DECENT PAN OF CORNBREAD, a collaboration with her daughter, folk musician Kelsey Wells.
Kory's essay "Really Good for a Girl," praised by LADIES HOME JOURNAL as "standout," leads the anthology SHE'S SUCH A GEEK (Seal Press, 2006) and was an early bridge between her technical and creative careers.
Kory is on the board of the Rockvale Writers' Colony and mentors poetry students in the low-residency program MTSU Write.
Kory's poems appear in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including the Tennessee edition of THE SOUTHERN POETRY ANTHOLOGY. She also performs her poetry on the album DECENT PAN OF CORNBREAD, a collaboration with her daughter, folk musician Kelsey Wells.
Kory's essay "Really Good for a Girl," praised by LADIES HOME JOURNAL as "standout," leads the anthology SHE'S SUCH A GEEK (Seal Press, 2006) and was an early bridge between her technical and creative careers.
Kory is on the board of the Rockvale Writers' Colony and mentors poetry students in the low-residency program MTSU Write.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 13, 2020
Kory Wells's voice is rich with specific details and a lush southern vernacular. Consider these words and phrases: "mule team," "hickory handle," "granny woman," "soot and sour milk," "charm a stream of milk from an axe handle." She weaves her obsession for sweet indulgence into universal desire. "...if you look, you'll find a galaxy/in your cup, perfect and round and spinning." This is a fun read-- earthy and familiar, yet it grapples with the meaning of pleasure and need.
December 17, 2019
Rarely does the presentation of a poetry collection seduce one so effectively as Sugar Fix by Kory Wells did for me. I was drawn to its promise of deliciousness immediately, both by the "let us eat cake" cover and by its overtly honest and sexy title. (Who hasn't succumbed to a desire, or perhaps even a need, for a sugar fix over the course of one's life? Most of us--and more often than not.) So, I was drawn in.
And this collection did not disappoint. It is fully a flirtation of the senses, as the title infers, but don't let this fool you. While this collection does fairly drip with sensuous, even sometimes decadent, delights from start to finish, its offerings derive from deep roots, inured in the soil of Southern life, which brings to it a flavor and a substance all its own. It is both sweet and gritty, sensuous and serious. It is grounded in the soil of Tennessee, and brings with it a kind of historic presence of mind, of heart and of course, of body (with its desires and even needs, at times--like the need of a sugar fix that, it turns out, does not always provide the kind of satisfaction one requires).
This collection draws on the author's Southern roots to fulfill its promise of tasty decadence, drawing its substance and its sap from tap roots deep in Tennessee soil. It draws from the author's own history, as well as the deeper soil of collective, cellular memory to provide the inner truths that provide the poetry its grounding blood and bone.
It is gratifying and enlightening, with artisanal anecdotes born of its author having lived the life of a sensate and intellectually grounded Southern woman, fully realized and culminating in her role as poet laureate of Rutherford County, Tennessee.
I highly recommend Sugar Fix as a Christmas gift, or any other kind of gift (to oneself or another) as one of the finest, tastiest collections I've ever read. It's a collection to savor.
And this collection did not disappoint. It is fully a flirtation of the senses, as the title infers, but don't let this fool you. While this collection does fairly drip with sensuous, even sometimes decadent, delights from start to finish, its offerings derive from deep roots, inured in the soil of Southern life, which brings to it a flavor and a substance all its own. It is both sweet and gritty, sensuous and serious. It is grounded in the soil of Tennessee, and brings with it a kind of historic presence of mind, of heart and of course, of body (with its desires and even needs, at times--like the need of a sugar fix that, it turns out, does not always provide the kind of satisfaction one requires).
This collection draws on the author's Southern roots to fulfill its promise of tasty decadence, drawing its substance and its sap from tap roots deep in Tennessee soil. It draws from the author's own history, as well as the deeper soil of collective, cellular memory to provide the inner truths that provide the poetry its grounding blood and bone.
It is gratifying and enlightening, with artisanal anecdotes born of its author having lived the life of a sensate and intellectually grounded Southern woman, fully realized and culminating in her role as poet laureate of Rutherford County, Tennessee.
I highly recommend Sugar Fix as a Christmas gift, or any other kind of gift (to oneself or another) as one of the finest, tastiest collections I've ever read. It's a collection to savor.
November 30, 2019
Wells blends wit, story, and truth-telling as she examines the ingredients of desire from all sides... an absolute treat to read... I felt like I was on a beautiful journey through past and present... I laughed and cried. I’ll be buying this for all my friends for Christmas. 💕
June 3, 2020
Delicious poems. Made a point of reading a 'chapter' (section of the book, divided with sweet headers like Layers of Rich Wonder) with a different dessert for about 1 a week. These are life's stories, sharply yet sweetly told.
November 24, 2019
This book is, well, delicious. The poems are brave and true, and, yes, often sweet, but not too sweet--Wells knows how to blend savory and sugar in these poems as she explores romantic love, desire (of all kinds), ancestry, and all that webs us to each other.
November 17, 2019
I'm often nervous about picking up books by poets I've already seen read their own work. Will there be something missing? Will I enjoy it less on the page?
Kory Wells in person is animated and warm, tender and funny, wry and just the slightest bit naughty.
Sitting down with this book felt like having access to that whole spread any time I wanted, peeking into that inner world that is both intimately individual and strongly tied to ancestry and history. There was a special magic in not just reading but sounding out the lines aloud to myself, the translation of the poet's voice into my own, the connection of that.
Sugar Fix tackles so many emotions and aspects of life, but remains strongly tied together in the theme of desire of all kinds. Read it. Savor it slowly. Taste each word. It's a feast that might bring a flush to your cheeks but should leave no bellyache.
Kory Wells in person is animated and warm, tender and funny, wry and just the slightest bit naughty.
Sitting down with this book felt like having access to that whole spread any time I wanted, peeking into that inner world that is both intimately individual and strongly tied to ancestry and history. There was a special magic in not just reading but sounding out the lines aloud to myself, the translation of the poet's voice into my own, the connection of that.
Sugar Fix tackles so many emotions and aspects of life, but remains strongly tied together in the theme of desire of all kinds. Read it. Savor it slowly. Taste each word. It's a feast that might bring a flush to your cheeks but should leave no bellyache.
October 22, 2019
I very much enjoyed this book. Although I am not a regular reader of poetry, I am so glad I picked up a copy of this. The wide array of voices flowing through these poems will speak to us all at some level. We can identify with sentiments about growing up, finding identity, falling in love, questioning beliefs, learning more about our history - all beautifully written. These poems are compulsively readable.
June 21, 2024
The poetry collection Sugar Fix by Kory Wells is a a delight, a true treat.
The title hints at the many sweet, tender moments within these pages. Her poems describe love, marriage and long term relationships with honesty. But with the sweet in life comes pain and confusion and loss. And Wells bravely confronts these issues, plus the difficult racial history of the South and within her family.
I never expected this poetry collection to make me laugh one moment and weep at the next. But there I was riding the poetry coaster, and when I reached the end of the book, I flipped back to the front and began again. FIVE huge, glittering stars!!!
The title hints at the many sweet, tender moments within these pages. Her poems describe love, marriage and long term relationships with honesty. But with the sweet in life comes pain and confusion and loss. And Wells bravely confronts these issues, plus the difficult racial history of the South and within her family.
I never expected this poetry collection to make me laugh one moment and weep at the next. But there I was riding the poetry coaster, and when I reached the end of the book, I flipped back to the front and began again. FIVE huge, glittering stars!!!
January 4, 2021
Being from the same town and same time period as poet Kory Wells, I found Sugar Fix a fun blast from the past, as she spoke of so many common places, tastes, and feelings. Her poems brought a sensory pleasure of all things sweet and memorable, while also reminding us that childhood memories can hide a darker side of reality.
Kory's work renewed my love for poetry along with sweet memories of days gone by. A recommended read for poetry lovers.
Kory's work renewed my love for poetry along with sweet memories of days gone by. A recommended read for poetry lovers.
July 13, 2022
Kory Wells' Sugar Fix is exactly the book of poetry I needed right now—decadent and sweet, yes, and also rich and layered, deeply satisfying. It’s a complex recipe to effectively mix poems about longing and desire, politics, identity, racial ancestry, and family, and Wells is an adept and talented poet who handles sugar as a multi-faceted metaphor with thought, grace, and skill. These poems capture our collective hunger for love and truth, peace and hope. I highly recommend Sugar Fix!
July 2, 2020
Kory Wells 'Sugar Fix' is full of resonance for me in a similar season of life, in a similar place. A very sensual book about old loves and new insights. I love all the imagery and metaphor of harvesting, cooking, and eating as organizing principle for this fine collection of very finely crafted and polished poems
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews