Ode to Dymphna

Be prepared to be shaken and stirred by Nina Robins's brilliant new poetry anthology, Ode to Dymphna. Robins presents us with a host of startling, disconcerting (and sometimes hilarious) connections and juxtapositions. She reveals the inconsolable bitterness that can hide within the gift of pearl earrings or the deep tenderness within the contemplation of a chicken. In one evolving series of poems, she traces the arc between a child's resentful, bewildering first encounter with the mental health system and the adult's sober gratitude for the pill that finally works. In another, she takes us from the distress of a social media ghosting to the terrifying thought that a beloved partner might die. She gives us new ways to think about losing weight and deleting e-mails and peeing in the woods. And about the unexpected turns of fate that can lead us back to faith. - S. W. Leicher, author of the novels Acts of Assumption and Acts of Atonement

About the Author :
Nina Belen Robins is a poet and grocery store employee. She lives with her husband and cats, and wants to normalize and destigmatize mental illness as best as she can. Her web site is: www.NinaBelenRobins.com

Review :
The poems in Ode to Dymphna weave and jolt through the human condition - what it means to inhabit a human body from its cellular to its intricate and holy machinations. They are raw and determined. They are haunting, and in some cases, haunted. They are intentional. They interrogate. They remember. They clap back. In this collection, resilience resonates through the familiar, the mundane, the unpleasant, and the necessary. In her careful eye for image, Robins captures hard truths: mortality is inevitable, these poems teach us, and grief is inevitable, but it is also the warmth of the human condition, in all of its messiness, that sustains us. - Ariana D. Den Bleyker, founder and publisher of ELJ Editions, Ltd. In this collection the poet comes into her full power. Biography flaring through into universal message. Meaning. Light. Incandescent and gritty. Not since finding Plath at 17 have I felt this kinship. But more hope here, more humility and love. I'm grateful for these poems. Rest in peace, hopelessness. - E. K. Gordon, author of Love Cohoes and Walk with Us (Crandall, Dostie & Douglass Books). Professor of English, Northampton Community College Ode to Dymphna is a real feast for thought and, at times, a real punch in the gut. Nina ponders important questions, like bacterial belief systems, and shares more anecdotes captured through the lens of her magnificent wit and humor. This might just be her best work yet! - Michael A. Carroll, author of Storm of Summer and Scotch Sympathy