Elise Panehal

The Girl Who Couldn't Talk Dirty Elise Panehal

This is a unique collection of a family's poetry. Three generations of female poets are featured, with poems by the author, her two daughters and her mother in an autobiographical style. The poems paint their early life as a young family in Rome, New York and later in Cleveland, Ohio, spanning several decades. "Elise is a wonderful poet. Rhythmic, lyrical and evocative, her work begs to be read aloud." wrote Shawn Mihalik, Managing Editor of Paleo Magazine. Elise said, "Poetry gives our words the chance to sing, and I love to sing. My mother was a wonderful singer, a contralto, and frequently quoted Shakespeare to us, until those phrases became our mantras. Wordsworth and Wilde were also high on the pop charts, next to the Beatles' Countdown. I know this gave me confidence to speak my heart. And so, naturally, I passed it on to the children. When I hear my mother's last poem and my daughters' first poems, I feel the full circle of love, a surround-sound of love." Her book covers a lot of ground, moving through their early years as a family, idealism, turmoil and breakup, caring for her mother with Alzheimer's and reinvention. Author Claudia Taller adds, "In Elise's writing we hear the high joys and the deep wounds. Her work shines because she loves her words fiercely and it shows." Her poems have appeared in local publications in New York and Ohio. She has done two vocal recordings, CDs, of Irish traditional music. The book's beautiful cover art is designed by her daughter Tara. This is her first book of poetry.