Dianne Butler’s work has appeared in Pearl, Bellowing Ark, Cruising World Magazine, Spotlight Magazine, The West Wind Review, The Siskiyou Newspaper, and others. She was an associate editor of the West Wind Review for three years. On A Wire, her first book of poetry, was published by Dorrance Publishing and came out in April of 2012. It is available on Amazon. She has just completed a novel, Following the Compass Rose, and will be seeking an agent as soon as possible.
“In her new collection, Along the Meridian, Dianne Butler gives us a world in which we feel the soil through the hands of gardeners and farm workers on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. With sharp focus on lives lived in the rhythm of planting seasons, with the rich California (both baja and norte) details of silver boots, cobblestone streets, and banana groves, with careful attention to the conflict between exterior facades and inner struggles—ironing boards “Made of balsam wood”—we see in this fearless new collection what is to be human and, ultimately, how close to the soil we are.”
—Jordan Hartt, Director of Programs, Centrum
“These poems engage the senses in images that stir memory and long-buried emotion—“Mother’s wrapped wrecked sheets, three, or four / layers caught and pinned underneath / with a huge rusting safety pin holding it taut. / Once white sheets scalded ochre and gold to / burnt sienna where the hot iron carves / its design .” Butler has a passion for the land and for reclaiming her place in it: "the arching brambles, the lea green / in the sun with tall grasses and wildfl owers.” In a number of the poems, she squares off and looks death in the eye. My favorite begins, “Dancing with the man who wears the bone shirt / rattling boogie rhythms over the scarred pine floor .” And ends with “sailors slipping on that red shirt in that dark war.” Here is a strong clear voice. Buy two copies: one for yourself and one for your friend who thinks she doesn’t like poetry.”
—Toni Hanner, author of The Ravelling Braid and Gertrude
