On Speaking Terms

Connie Wanek’s third book of poems, On Speaking Terms, is amusing, tender, and surprising. A former librarian in Duluth, Minnesota, Wanek’s poems emerge from everyday objects—Scrabble, garlic, lipstick, hawkweed—and the landscapes, waterscapes, and severe winters of the upper Midwest. Lit by startling metaphors, Wanek’s work has been justly compared to Wisława Szymborska’s for its wry wit and spare “Eastern European” sensibility. This collection was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award and recently received the Northeast Minnesota Book Award.