SIENNA TAGGART

EARTHBOUND

Dee LeRoy’s first poetry collection, “Earthbound,” is like walking through an art or history museum. I found myself full of that peaceful yet bizarre emotion one gets after staring for hours at walls preserving fragile paint or studying old artifacts behind a glass case. Reading this collection is like taking a step through time, teetering on the delicate edge of past and present. LeRoy demonstrates storytelling through her poetry and portrays the inner workings of the observation of art and artifact to explore human experience. 

Each poem in “Earthbound” contributes to an atmosphere of color, sound, and unique imagination. Within the collection, you will find poems about art pieces by artists who have become household names, such as Monet’s watery canvases in LeRoy’s poem, “Soul of Water,” where the speaker so fluidly describes the way “water governed Monet’s dreams / called him to Atlantic / to Mediterranean” (20). Or the tortured reverberations of Van Gogh in “Wheat Field with Crows,” as the speaker depicts the mood of the painting, “Color of mourning and madness / space beyond sun / black was always at the edge” (64). Le Roy employs alliteration cleverly, replicating /m/, /s/, and /b/ sounds to smear color onto the page.

Yet, there are images described within “Earthbound” that are lesser-known, or perhaps, just overlooked by their more famous art companions. LeRoy’s poem “Portrait of Madame Chardin” breathes movement into the backstory and personal life of artist, Jean Siméon Chardin and his wife, Madam Chardin:

“He could not deny her age—

the pallor, the folds of flesh

the thinning of her lips

which—corners slightly upturned—

seemed to approve him. (52)

There is so much said here, about two lives from long ago, and I found “Portrait of Madame Chardin” to be an immensely intimate poem, reflecting that quiet confession of a matured devotion between man and wife. 

Beneath these sensual descriptions of artwork is a deeper message on being human—on experiences, struggles, and triumphs. On life and death. “Sorting” reflects the past through a moment in the present as the speaker sorts through the belongings of someone gone, saying, “This chore / we should have shared— / packed past with story” (119). While this is a poem that reminds us about death’s finality, it also stores sentiments of cultural belief in its final lines. The speaker waits to pack everything up, “in case you come back to us / requiring clothes” (120).

And as the collection nears its conclusion, there is “New Year’s Eve,” marking a nostalgic tone: “We seemed shieled against coming winds / our pointed hats, loud horns fierce with magic / to keep us safe” (96). It is a poem that is, quite possibly, the epicenter of the entire collection. LeRoy encapsulates the continuation of life, of going on despite the hardships. And is that not the magic of living?

Friends. Family. Art. History. Past. Present. Future. “Earthbound” is a collection of preserved embraces.

Sienna Taggart is a Spring 2022 Editorial Intern.