All Aberration: Poems

In her first book, Svoboda exhibits a remarkable range and command of her subject matter. Starting out with poems about the prairie landscapes of her childhood, she ventures into explorations of love, friendship and motherhood in new and less idyllic and less pastoral places, then breaks to exotic cultures in New Zealand, the Pacific islands and Africa. If the most touching of her verses are those dedicated to a son who died in early childhood, the most appealing and original in imagery are Svoboda's erotic poems. At the center of her work is a desire not just to write about love, but to redefine it and expand its possibilities. This poet creates moments that are stronger than everyday experience, moments that are, as she suggests, all aberration, and all the more true and real for being so. December