Today Means Amen by Sierra DeMulder is a collection of poetry and a reflection on life. DeMulder is an internationally touring performance poet, educator, and two-time National Poetry Slam champion. Sierra is a 2014 McKnight Fellowship recipient and her work has been featured on NPR, Huffington Post, The Advocate, and others.

It’s not all that often that a collection speaks with emotion throughout and in a way that a male reader can relate too. From a break up she compares to the experience to that of an infant finally realizing that he is no longer part of his mother and the first realization of being alone. DeMulder digs deeps in imagery and comparison.

One day, when she leaves the room, the baby
will comprehend that he is actually alone.

Such a heavy load for something so small

The death of a spouse can be measured by the piles of mail, dishes, and photos. DeMulder calls this “tree rings of his solitude” In “Exodus 33:20” her comparison of the face of God or creation (and where the world technically begins) is insightful if not a bit sacrilegious to some, but her ability to draw comparisons is remarkable.

She writes touchingly on dementia that her grandfather suffered from, and, likewise, her treatment of depression, abuse, and self-doubt reach deep into the soul of the reader. Poems like “New Year” and “A Thousand Pieces” break the tension and provide a bit of emotional relaxation.
DeMulder is extremely talented and writes with real feeling. The emotional presence is real and not, as in so many first collections, forced or feigned. It’s rare that a collection can capture and hold the reader from cover to cover. I expect that we will be seeing more from DeMulder in the near future. ( )

I'm not really sure how to put into words the sensation of falling that I had through much of this collection. There were a lot of poems about her grandfather and dementia, which drove me basically to tears, and some about love that left me wanting more. I felt upon finishing that I enjoyed fewer poems in this collection than I did in [b:The Bones Below|7726844|The Bones Below|Sierra DeMulder|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347572783s/7726844.jpg|10492603], but maybe another read-through (where I probably skip the ones about her grandfather because I can't do that again) will change my mind. It's entirely possible that my head was still spinning from the previous poems that I couldn't take in any more; I definitely had to set the book down due to saturation.

Absolutely worth it. ( )