Nearby Voices: Persona Poems, by Fran Abrams

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

In this book of persona poems, inanimate objects tell us their personal narratives and tales of woe. In a persona poem, the author speaks through a voice other than the poet’s own. For example, the speaker in a persona poem may be a historical figure or a cartoon character. The invented voice is part of what pulls us into the poems.

In this collection, the characters whose voices we hear are the objects we see each day in our homes—including our sofa, dining table, and the baby’s crib, and in our neighborhood—such as the grocery store, gas station, and ATM. Each provides a perspective on our everyday lives that we may not have considered until we look at these speakers’ joys, needs, and worries. We learn about the carpet that loves to be vacuumed, the washing machine that’s disgusted by its family’s eating habits, and the stop sign that prides itself on preventing accidents. These poems, told from the point of view of objects we’re not accustomed to “listening” to, are a refreshing look at our everyday lives.

Fran Abrams, Rockville, MD, began writing poetry in 2017 after retiring from her day job as a nonprofit arts administrator. Her poems have been published in numerous journals and in more than twenty anthologies. Her books include the full-length collection, I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir (2022), two chapbooks, The Poet Who Loves Pythagoras (2023), and Arranging Words (2023). One of her poems was nominated in 2023 by Gargoyle Magazine for a Pushcart Prize. Her collection of Nonet poems, titled Traveling on the Number Nine Bus, was published in August 2025. Please see franabramspoetry.com for more.