Julie Damerell

Needing Blue
by
Julie Damerell

Cover: white cover with royal blue ink ISBN: 0-9620790-6-5  Publish Date: Nov., 2001  No. of Pages: 24  Size: 5.5"x8.5" Cost: $7.00

Rich in nature images, this chapbook of poetry gives the reader a sense of self-worth with a solid dose of reality in a fickle and ever-changing world.  Through the eyes of her children she has learned to appreciate that little things, like sea shells and sun rises and caring for baby birds, are important and should be treasured.
 

"Trickle that sorrow here/ into this cup. It's exactly/how much blue I need." and  "Words on the tip/ of a paintbrush/ filling empty spaces/ telling spirit's journey."  Julie Damerell’s words, so hauntingly human, speak of life and loss, sorrow and joy; of a mother missing her mother, searching a daughter for clues, a son for answers. Is God a woman? She tells us, yes, and she is eight years old. This is a must read, a gem.  A new voice, pleading for gentleness in a rough world.

Julie Damerell may be "Needing Blue," as these poems of love and loss is titled, but she has plenty of other colors in her palette:  "purple tights," "the bitter/white of grated orange," "Spring, shaded gray," "goldenrod in chilled hands," "windowpanes glazed amber by the sun," and "the moon in your pocket/This white shell."  With deft imagery and singing lines, this is certainly a full-spectrum first collection.

Julie  Damerell's work illuminates the small quiet moments of everyday life in imagery like delicate brushstrokes, like haiku.  To read her work is to become keenly aware of the joy and pain of the ordinary.

Julie Damerell is the friend who won't let you eat chocolate alone. She teaches at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York, and lives nearby with her husband and two children.

Her prose has been published in Mother Voices and online in Ellavon. Among the print magazines that include her work are ByLine, Bellowing Ark, The Rockford Review, The Aurorean, and Snow Monkey.  Many of her poems can also be found in on-line zines.  Her poetry has won prizes in a number of contests; she also earned an Award of Merit in ByLine's 2000 Poetry Chapbook Competition.

Before the spring of 1996, she didn't imagine ever writing anything but family letters and notes to teachers. 

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% C.J. Houghtaling
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State: PA
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