Conversation, by Sarah Stoltzfus Allen

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall so you could hear the conversations that take place behind closed doors? Have you ever wondered if that couple that seems so perfect is that way when they are at home?

Conversation lets the reader do just that. We see this relationship from the beginning to (spoiler alert) the end. It makes us privy to the inner workings of an unnamed couple as they navigate finding each other, reveling in each other, jobs, anxiety, family, and work-life balance. We get to eavesdrop on conversations that are not meant for our ears.

The author would like to ensure you know these poems are persona poems. That means the author has assumed a persona as she wrote them. They are works of fiction. These poems may contain a few kernels of truth, but they do not reflect any current or past relationship that she has had. She’s just really curious about what happens when people go home with their partners!

Sarah Stoltzfus Allen, above all else, loves a Terry’s dark chocolate orange on Christmas morning. She is a mom, a poet and essayist, an avid Earl Grey tea drinker, and she tolerates the snake living under her porch. When she gets the time she hikes the hills of her beloved Eastern Kentucky home and dreams outlandish dreams. What seems like a lifetime ago, she studied music education and creative writing at Morehead State University. She is working on an MFA with the Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University. You can find her published in various online and print journals, and she is the author of The Darks and the Lights, Finishing Line Press, 2023.