Trailing the Azimuth

by Danita Dodson

Trailing the Azimuth guides the readers down various trails through striking imagery, resonant language, and intensity of vision. Linked by allusions to the ""azimuth,"" the poems in this collection represent the search for direction in a world that is complex and uncertain, prompting the journey toward light and more mindfulness of self, others, and God. These lyrical compasses exhibit a multiplicity of style and subject informed by the poet's travels, interest in hiking, and cultural awareness. Her multifaceted handicraft draws energy and empathy from everything in her background. Taking us along on walks within her own native landscape and around the world, Danita Dodson gives us verses about the ancestral identities of an Appalachian homeplace, meditations upon places like the Southwest that unfold Native American storytelling, celebrations of global journeys that rejoice both diversity and oneness, psalms that uplift the divine presence in nature, and poems that reveal healing pathways through COVID-19 by elevating memory, hope, and rebirth. Illuminated by Dodson's unique voice as both a mountain woman and a citizen of the world, Trailing the Azimuth bridges physical and spiritual landscapes, offering readers a word map as they traverse their own paths of life.

Genres: Poetry

120 pages, Paperback

Published November 23, 2021

Reviews

[Kriti | Armed with A Book]

Trailing the Azimuth is an engaging collection that contemplates travelling through the woods and the world. The poems address many feelings, including those of longing, healing, getting to know the past, and making friends with strangers during travelling. As I read, I was transported to the setting that Danita wrote about. She beautifully captures moments of finding connection with strangers when people can see their cousins in her face. It speaks to her being a world citizen, and through many poems, she explores what it means to have roots all over the world.

I love the verses that Danita writes and found many favorites. The poems I see myself returning to are These Tennessee Woods, Clinch Mountain Overlook, People of the Legend, Walking in Clinton, The Voices of Pots,Colores Nicaragüenses, Subtraction and Addition, Passages and Surfacing.

“we all are the clay we knead and shape,
we all are the earth and the paths we walk,
we all are the stories we leave behind” - The voices of pots

Many thanks to the author for a complimentary copy of the book for an honest review.

Read an excerpt from the book and an interview with Danita on my blog.

- Kriti, Armed with A Book | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these poems require a little bushwhacking through stilted language and verbosity, but this collection ambles through meadows of some mighty fine phrasings, climbs to perches of picturesque spiritual awareness, and eventually reaches the occasional zenith with vistas like “People of the Legend.”

Favorite Poems:
“People of the Legend”
“Patchwork of Remembrance”
“Walking in Clinton”
“Snapshots of Istanbul Amities”
“Reading Persian Poetry”

[Gayle Curtin · Rating 5 out of 5]

With rich imagery and formatting (you can see the river flowing by the way the poems are spaced, oddly enough) the author takes you around the natural world. I won't lie; my favorite section is Tennessee Trails. Some of the other locations I know a little; some not at all, but East Tennessee contains my Smoky Mountains, and Dodson's poems make me feel like I'm embracing Cades Cove or Elkmont or any of a dozen other valleys or peaks that bring me peace. Somehow its rhythm reminds me of Spoon River Anthologies, even though the theme is wildly different. Both are soothing and take you back. I enjoyed reading it.