Between the Earth and Sky

by Eleanor Kedney

Poetry. Women's Studies. Addiction. In Eleanor Kedney's BETWEEN THE EARTH AND SKY, a brother's heroin addiction is at the center of a family where love is difficult to accept from one another, yet it is the thing that delivers understanding and forgiveness to a sister who bravely carries the family legacy.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2020

Reviews

[Kiran Bhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kedney's Between the Earth and Sky is a moving collection of poems centered around a brother's trials and tribulations with heroin and its effects on his family. The poems strand the line between piercing telling moment and auto-fiction. Kedney is very overt about the fact that these poems cover her life story and her own relationships with these people. It's a very aching and personal book that makes you feel like you're sitting on the other side of a couch with the author. I feel like I know Kedney after reading it, and I hope others will consider reading it as well, in the hopes of getting to know her very particular tale.

[Tom C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

These poems are about a fascinating family history. They're powerful and restrained, the power coming from the subject matter but also from Kedney's skill at focusing on narrative and inviting readers to feel rather than telling them what she felt and what they should feel.

Although a lot of the poems are melancholy, these lines made me smile: "I want to believe the dog kisses my lips / because she love me and not for the jam / in the corners of my mouth."