Dancing in Place: Poems (Nirala)

Poetry. Women's Studies. Chock full of song and timbre and truth on every page, S. Renay Sanders' DANCING IN PLACE is an intimate look into the landscape of Northern Ohio's working class. Metal lunch boxes, lace-up boots; women in pert party dresses with Bibles tucked safely in their purses, this collection showcases the realities, the courage and honor it takes for "hometown" culture to survive urban growth. The way people living in these communities lean into one another to preserve the rich roots of where it all began--with the music. The tempo of the rain hitting the ground, the cadence of cicadas; from those early primal connections fixed in mountain music, to Polka, to Rock and Roll, to Up Town Funk.

"Believe me reader, you will feel the beat."--Kari Gunter-Seymour

"DANCING IN PLACE delivers a generous serving of poetry from a lady with her sleeves rolled up at the all-night cafeteria across from the music club. Memories, characters, emotions, experience, all the ingredients. Savor the word song."--Chuck Joy

"S. Renay Sanders' poems celebrate post industrial Cleveland while hearkening back to her Appalachian roots. These are lyrics laced with wry humor and raw emotion that dance 'in the light of the full now moon.' Feel their pull and sway."--Ray MacNeice