Date of Review:

03/22/2009

Published Work:

Prisoner's Dilemma

Reviewer:

Nanette Rayman-Rivera

Source:

GoodReads

Review Excerpt:

Cheryl Snell’s book: Prisoner’s Dilemma is a gorgeous, wrought book, complete with haunting artwork form her sister, Janet Snell. The book chronicles pain and dilemma, how to get through pain, what pain is. Her poems evoke mystery, reality, lyricism and in-your-face longing, hurt, tragedy an almost unstated questioning of how to get through it all. While reading this book I felt an uncanny connection to everyone: that surely, there must be others out there who have lived lives scripted mostly by loss and unspeakable hurt.

What is splendid about some of the poems is what could lie beneath the words. In the above poem the author never says why the hair is being cut – the poem focuses on superstition and a coupling of two people. Always, to my mind, the cutting of hair in writing and life, signifies something else – renewal, betrayal, anger, hope, envy, viciousness.

And the collection itself is beautiful. Make of that what you will.

--Nanette Rayman -Rivera

Link to Full Review:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/136558-review