Wyld Syde Press is proud to announce the publication of Marianna Boncek’s poetry book Still Life.
There are very few poets that can break my heart and uplift my spirit as Marianna can with her poetry. I first came to know Marianna while I was completing my PhD studies. I put out a call for mothers who had suffered the loss of their child to submit their work. Marianna submitted the title poem of this exquisite collection.
The title is clever. It proposes life is ongoing, even in the depths of our grief. It also implies, like the artwork, it contains death at times, and yet, there is a beauty we were not expecting, and that, too, is still life.
Marianna instantly became a sister. However, we sisters know we cannot live in the darkness. We must continue moving in the light, as there is still life. We must re-engage, if for no other reason than to hold the lantern of our child’s brightness.
Marianna’s poems run the gambit: grief, love, and life. Life; in its array of colors. Life in all its joy and in all its pain. Because no matter the circumstances, it is still life.
Read her words with your mind and your heart. You, too, will be heartbroken and uplifted by this life-affirming poet.
Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan, PhD
Marianna Boncek is the modern equivalent of a Renaissance Woman, were such characters allowed to exist in olden times. Her finely crafted poems muse deeply and frankly on a variety of topics commonly delegated to women, but with a transparency seldom afforded to them. She writes of childhood, motherhood and its heartbreaks, romance, death, and historical reports about her hometown. If you dare to know Boncek, dive into this collection and be introduced to her examined life.
~ Cheryl A. Rice, author of Love’s Compass
You will like these poems and the voice of the poet inside them because they are you, and me, and your neighbors and your community. They give insight into the everyday lives we all live. They ring true for all people however they relate to the world: as a single person and/or a partner, a teacher or a student, a child, a sibling, a parent, and even as a grandparent. We all have our particular quirks and angles of view, which is what makes this journey through moments of life interesting. These poems explore the facts, the imagination and the mysteries. And it’s not all sunshine. Marianna’s poems are sharp in detail and deft in storytelling, both past and present. You ease into them and quickly find yourself listening to a fun and intelligent friend having a cup of coffee, or a drink, could even be a stranger on the bus, maybe an aside in line at the grocery store, or just a moment when you pause, see someone else or yourself, and consider the rich tapestry of life. When a character in a poem says, “Miss, you can’t be on this land,” we are thankful the poet doesn’t listen and fall in-line. She continues to probe the world, both the current culture and the ancient pains and pleasures humanity continues to endure. This collection is honest and there is strength in the vulnerability of these observations.
~ Guy Reed, author of Time Under The Overlook