by Peggy Schimmelman
Published by Kelsay Books
Review by Julie Orvis
I have been a fan of Peggy Schimmelman’s poetry since we took a writing class together many years ago. I have loved and followed her work as she has grown as a poet and has become the local poet laureate of Livermore, CA.
Peggy Schimmelman’s chapbook, Make Me Your Love Song, is a collection of finely crafted poems that offer impactful reflections on life. Peggy’s work shows intelligence, depth, and accessibility in each poem, exploring the range of human emotions from loss and regret to the joy of living and loving deeply. These poems bear witness to the fact that love is about being human: sometimes romantic, sometimes two people simply connecting, sometimes enduring, other times fleeting. Peggy’s employment of language, line breaks, musicality, and the use of white space are consistently elegant. What I love most about the poems is the feeling that they are paying tribute to that which is human in all of us.
The poem, “Cozumel Moon” captures memories of youth:
… in one of those memories, I wonder, a girl
green-eyed and wild, just this side of crazy
Corona-tipsy and starlight-stoned.
“The Last Lullaby” explores the political realities of our time:
Selam and Adonay, hush now and sleep.
Boat man don’t like it when little ones weep.
Ahead, Europe waits to shelter and feed us—
to welcome us. Children, now listen to me
“Push Through the Night” is a story of facing challenges:
Soon dawn will arrive
in a river of light.
Float into the morning.
Push through this night.
“A Poem in Three” is a romantic ditty that starts with the book’s title:
Make me your love song
in three-quarter time
conjure me, count me in
one-two-three-one-two-three
whisper me whistle me
dance me romance me
woo me infuse me
with rhythm and rhyme.
Peggy Schimmelman is the poet laureate of Livermore, CA. Her work includes the poetry chapbooks Make Me Your Love Song, Crazytown, and Tick-Tock, as well as the novels Insomniacs, Inc. and Whippoorwills. Her poetry and short fiction, heavily influenced by her musical interests and her Ozark roots, have appeared in the North American Review, Naugatuck River Review, Peregrine, WinningWriters.com, the Aleola Journal of Poetry and Art, Pacific Review, Comstock Review, Wild Musette, 100wordstories.org, and other journals and anthologies.
Available at Kelsay Books Website and Amazon.com
Kelsay Books (August 16, 2024) 68 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-1639806126
$20.00
Reviewer Julie Orvis says: “While I have many interests in life, reading and writing have been favorites. I belong to a local writing group, Wild Vine Writers, and have enjoyed writing and contributing to their publications Long Stories Short and Two Truths and a Lie. I’ve also received award recognition for short prose pieces at Pleasanton Poetry and Prose.”
Risa Denenberg is the curator at The Poetry Cafe Online.
The Poetry Cafe 
Beautiful work by Peggy Schimmelman. Thank you for sharing this and your thoughts.
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