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Alone in the House of My Heart: Poems
Deeply rooted in respect and compassion for Appalachia and its people, these poems are both paeans to and dirges for past and present family, farmlands, factories, and coal.
Kari Gunter-Seymour’s second full-length collection resounds with candid, lyrical poems about Appalachia’s social and geographical afflictions and affirmations. History, culture, and community shape the physical and personal landscapes of Gunter-Seymour’s native southeastern Ohio soil, scarred by Big Coal and fracking, while food insecurity and Big Pharma leave their marks on the region’s people. A musicality of language swaddles each poem in hope and a determination to endure. Alone in the House of My Heart offers what only art can: a series of thought-provoking images that evoke such a clear sense of place that it’s familiar to anyone, regardless of where they call home.
Kari Gunter-Seymour’s second full-length collection resounds with candid, lyrical poems about Appalachia’s social and geographical afflictions and affirmations. History, culture, and community shape the physical and personal landscapes of Gunter-Seymour’s native southeastern Ohio soil, scarred by Big Coal and fracking, while food insecurity and Big Pharma leave their marks on the region’s people. A musicality of language swaddles each poem in hope and a determination to endure. Alone in the House of My Heart offers what only art can: a series of thought-provoking images that evoke such a clear sense of place that it’s familiar to anyone, regardless of where they call home.
- GenresPoetry
104 pages, Paperback
First published October 28, 2022
3 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Kari Gunter-Seymour
20 books22 followersALONE IN THE HOUSE OF MY HEART (Ohio University Swallow Press 2022)
“A breathtaking, artful set of poems on loss, family, place, and memory.”
--Kirkus (Starred review)
“We reckon that nine generations in Appalachia is long enough for a place to get in the bones of a family, and that kinheritance has marked Kari Gunter-Seymour with an intuitive feel for one of America’s most isolated and peculiar regions.”
--Matt Sutherland, Foreword Reviews
“Kari Gunter-Seymour’s talent shines like a diamond in this collection: solid, clear, sparkling.”
--Donna Meredith, Southern Literary Review
Deeply rooted in respect and compassion for Appalachia and its people, the poems included in "Alone in the House of My Heart" are both paeans to and dirges for past and present family, farmlands, factories, and coal. The collection resounds with candid, lyrical poems about Appalachia’s social and geographical afflictions and affirmations. History, culture, and community shape the physical and personal landscapes of Gunter-Seymour’s native southeastern Ohio soil, scarred by Big Coal and fracking, while food insecurity and Big Pharma leave their marks on the region’s people. A musicality of language swaddles each poem in hope and a determination to endure. Alone in the House of My Heart offers what only art can: a series of thought-provoking images that evoke such a clear sense of place that it’s familiar to anyone, regardless of where they call home.
Gunter-Seymour is the Poet Laureate of Ohio, a ninth generation Appalachian and editor of "I Thought I Heard A Cardinal Sing: Ohio's Appalachian Voices, a one-of-a-kind anthology, funded by the Academy of American Poets and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Gunter-Seymour is the executive director and editor of the Women of Appalachia Project™ anthologies, "Women Speak," volumes 1-8 and "Essentially Athens Ohio," an anthology focused on landmarks, tales and experiences of those living in or deeply connected to Athens county. She holds a B.F.A. in graphic design and an M.A. in commercial photography and is a retired instructor in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. A poem she wrote in support of families living in poverty in Athens County, OH, went viral and has been seen by over 100,000 people, resulting in thousands of dollars donated to her local food pantry.
Her poetry collections include "Alone in the House of My Heart" (Ohio University Swallow Press, 2022), "A Place So Deep Inside America It Can’t Be Seen" (Sheila Na Gig Editions, 2020), winner of the 2020 Ohio Poet of the Year Award and the chapbook "Serving" (Crisis Chronicals Press 2020). Her work has been featured on Verse Daily, Cultural Daily, World Literature Today, the New York Times and Poem-a-Day.
Gunter-Seymour is an Ohio Creative Aging Teaching Artist; a retired instructor in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University; an artist in residence at the Wexner Center for the Arts and a Pillars of Prosperity Fellow for the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio.
Her award winning photography has been published nationally in The Sun Magazine, Light Journal, Looking at Appalachia, Storm Cellar Quarterly, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Vine Leaves Journal and Appalachian Heritage Magazine.
www.karigunterseymourpoet.com
“A breathtaking, artful set of poems on loss, family, place, and memory.”
--Kirkus (Starred review)
“We reckon that nine generations in Appalachia is long enough for a place to get in the bones of a family, and that kinheritance has marked Kari Gunter-Seymour with an intuitive feel for one of America’s most isolated and peculiar regions.”
--Matt Sutherland, Foreword Reviews
“Kari Gunter-Seymour’s talent shines like a diamond in this collection: solid, clear, sparkling.”
--Donna Meredith, Southern Literary Review
Deeply rooted in respect and compassion for Appalachia and its people, the poems included in "Alone in the House of My Heart" are both paeans to and dirges for past and present family, farmlands, factories, and coal. The collection resounds with candid, lyrical poems about Appalachia’s social and geographical afflictions and affirmations. History, culture, and community shape the physical and personal landscapes of Gunter-Seymour’s native southeastern Ohio soil, scarred by Big Coal and fracking, while food insecurity and Big Pharma leave their marks on the region’s people. A musicality of language swaddles each poem in hope and a determination to endure. Alone in the House of My Heart offers what only art can: a series of thought-provoking images that evoke such a clear sense of place that it’s familiar to anyone, regardless of where they call home.
Gunter-Seymour is the Poet Laureate of Ohio, a ninth generation Appalachian and editor of "I Thought I Heard A Cardinal Sing: Ohio's Appalachian Voices, a one-of-a-kind anthology, funded by the Academy of American Poets and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Gunter-Seymour is the executive director and editor of the Women of Appalachia Project™ anthologies, "Women Speak," volumes 1-8 and "Essentially Athens Ohio," an anthology focused on landmarks, tales and experiences of those living in or deeply connected to Athens county. She holds a B.F.A. in graphic design and an M.A. in commercial photography and is a retired instructor in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. A poem she wrote in support of families living in poverty in Athens County, OH, went viral and has been seen by over 100,000 people, resulting in thousands of dollars donated to her local food pantry.
Her poetry collections include "Alone in the House of My Heart" (Ohio University Swallow Press, 2022), "A Place So Deep Inside America It Can’t Be Seen" (Sheila Na Gig Editions, 2020), winner of the 2020 Ohio Poet of the Year Award and the chapbook "Serving" (Crisis Chronicals Press 2020). Her work has been featured on Verse Daily, Cultural Daily, World Literature Today, the New York Times and Poem-a-Day.
Gunter-Seymour is an Ohio Creative Aging Teaching Artist; a retired instructor in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University; an artist in residence at the Wexner Center for the Arts and a Pillars of Prosperity Fellow for the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio.
Her award winning photography has been published nationally in The Sun Magazine, Light Journal, Looking at Appalachia, Storm Cellar Quarterly, Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Vine Leaves Journal and Appalachian Heritage Magazine.
www.karigunterseymourpoet.com
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 5, 2025
Excellent work by the 2020-24 Poet Laureate of Ohio. I read this because the author is speaking to the Aldus Society (the book-lovers group here in Columbus) in May, and I knew I'd want to read it a couple of times before her program (along with any other work of hers I can get my hands on). This came about because she led a panel of Appalachian women poets at the Ohioana book fest last year, and it was so great we decided to invite her to speak to us, and she accepted.
Too many great poems, I can't decide on one to provide a sample, but maybe this last stanza of the title poem will tempt you to read more:
"Tonight I weep for all I cannot fix,
wish for a newfangled deity to implore,
a 'let's make a deal' beyond altar and incense,
a clearinghouse for the backlog of karma.
I drape a makeshift veil over my head,
one hand raised in supplication,
the other shielding my heart."
Too many great poems, I can't decide on one to provide a sample, but maybe this last stanza of the title poem will tempt you to read more:
"Tonight I weep for all I cannot fix,
wish for a newfangled deity to implore,
a 'let's make a deal' beyond altar and incense,
a clearinghouse for the backlog of karma.
I drape a makeshift veil over my head,
one hand raised in supplication,
the other shielding my heart."
March 29, 2023
Gunter-Seymour is a total master of poetry, knowing how to make luscious combinations of metaphors and rhetorical flourishes sound natural. Her subject matter is apparently drawn from her own life ("the facade I always add to myself"), and is pretty common in contemporary poetry; loss, substance abuse, PTSD, and some social commentary later in the book. But there are also an appreciation of nature ("coyote music tempers moon's heavy breath"), love, and recollections of youth. Some poems have narratives and even get chatty, and all are expressive.
March 28, 2023
I just love this book. The author captures something about growing up and existing - when it isn’t easy, but you have no other choice. I find myself lost in her descriptions as the ‘red oaks thrash’ and her father travels the East Fork Obey River for a cantaloupe. Descriptions of covid, and even the killing of George Floyd, help remind us that the corners of Ohio are not so far apart. The house of Kari Gunter-Seymour’s heart has come to life.
November 11, 2024
Needed to hear another voice from Ohio instead of that state's shady dictator on the rise. So much in the orange spotlight, that evil Ohioan.
Needed to remember things I love about Appalachia even though I've lived most of my life trying to forget it.
Favorite in the collection:
"Mostly, a cage is air."
Needed to remember things I love about Appalachia even though I've lived most of my life trying to forget it.
Favorite in the collection:
"Mostly, a cage is air."
November 17, 2022
This is actually a 4.5 star read for me and I put this book on my Best of 2022 shelf.
I had a visceral reaction to Bone Thin and Buzz Whitedog made me cry. Don't Fear the Reaper is probably my favorite but they are all excellent.
I had a visceral reaction to Bone Thin and Buzz Whitedog made me cry. Don't Fear the Reaper is probably my favorite but they are all excellent.
February 28, 2023
A poignant look at grieving and healing.
April 7, 2023
Lovely portrait of the loud and quiet things that move us.
May 29, 2023
Only a few standouts, but very good regardless.
June 17, 2023
This collection speaks through a voice at once lyrical and pragmatic; one that negotiates complicated relationships, questions theories of destiny and does it all with engaging language.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews