She writes so you can dream--Olivia Rose Umstead's debut collection, How Poetry Sounds, chronicles themes such as love, infatuation, and nostalgia in breezy, conversational poems, inviting audiences to remember their own special memories between her pages. Her voice is unmistakable."i know you know i think claude's a genius
and even if you didn't know at first
you figured it out after counting
the met ticket stubs in my trash can
and remarked that my college savings
were wasted on water lilies.
you say you've been to the met too
and it's nothing special.
you always did put me in my place.
you probably stood too close to the walls
so the lilies were just brushstrokes of
paint flung around the canvas.
like a toddler fingerpainting the kitchen table.
then again, when i get up close to you
your blood rushes through your cheeks
like all your senses flickering on at once
and all the while, those lilies still on the wall.
whether they're brushstrokes or not,
they're not moving like you're moving."
-Olivia Rose Umstead; "impressed by the impressionists"