Book Review: "Karen Lee Oliver's poetry collection, Pergola, invites readers into a world of images, sensations, illusions, and even fantasy. Oliver especially excels at presenting gothic hellscapes, and these pieces offer vivid imagery, musicality, and thematic coherence. Oliver's poems are clear and have a strong sense of voice. The lighter pieces are quirky and offer surprise, such as "Grandmother's Kitchen," which ends with charming ambiguity. "Say what you will, / It's O.K. here, / To laugh at your/ Goodbyes." Overall, though, readers who enjoy moody, fantasy-inflected atmospheres will find elements to admire here." - BlueInk Review Book Synopsis: Pergola, in the Italian language, means a trellis used to grow flowers or vines. Upon this idea, I wrote a collection of poems that seem to follow a winding path in nature as well as life.Written between 1986 and 2000, Pergola was created from images I had while living in New York City as well as where I live now, in rural New York State. In Pergola, I combined city and country in what I think is an interesting selection of poems. Autobiography: KAREN LEE OLIVER was born October 1, 1959, in Poughkeepsie, New York and spent the first thirteen years of her life growing up in rural New York State. She moved to New York City for an extensive study in ballet which included a scholarship with the American Ballet Theater. Ms. Oliver began writing poetry during college where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the State University of New York at Albany. Since then Ms. Oliver has spent most of her free time writing poetry and believes her writing to be a deep expression of her inner self as well as the world around her.
