Each day as we count down to the April 18 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2015 Poetry finalist Kathleen Jesme.
A multi-layered portrait of life after death
Albedo by Kathleen Jesme
Published by Ahsahta Press
Category Sponsor: Wellington Management, Inc.
Stunning and beautiful, the poems in Albedo circle around the death of the speaker’s father and examine grief as a reflection of the stark, wintry landscape that pervades the collection. From the white blanket of snow across which a small plane flies, to an array of tricksters, fairytale characters and figures from memory, the quietly recurring images that haunt Albedo examine the mostly ordinary and sometimes extraordinary ways in which the individual comes to perceive and love the world.
Author Biography: 
Kathleen Jesme is the author of four previous collections of poetry, including Meridian (Tupelo Press), and The Plum-Stone Game (Ahsahta Press). Her books have won the Lena Miles Wever Todd and Snowbound Poetry Prizes. She is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and a recent recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board grant.
The reviews are in:
“The term ‘albedo’ references a surface’s ability to reflect solar energy, and whether Jesme’s poems travel a winter landscape (“the road narrowed with snow and twilight”) or fly above it, as the poet’s deceased father did, they have the lambency of light sharply reflected. Working her way through grief, Jesme observes white and dark everywhere as she touches on primal fears. And the snow keeps falling.” — Library Journal
“The season is winter. The death is the father’s. The question is: How far can language take us? And when it takes us there—into silence and through silence—how exactly will we be brought back? There is grief in this book, for sure, but also something else: a wonderment that such lives as ours exist. Finally the act of writing itself does truly take Jesme where she needs to go, where we all need to go: ‘and now here I am fixing up/the solitary again.’ Albedo is a truly amazing book.” — Jim Moore
“If you love a challenge; if you question language, loss, existence; if you have an appreciation for measured chaos, this collection of diverse poems is an excellent read.” — The Corresponder, Mankato State University
In the media:
Listen to Kathleen Jesme talk with Minnesota Reads on KUMD in Duluth.
Kathleen Jesme reading three poems from Albedo (Audio)
Join us at the Awards Gala!
Award winners will be announced at the 27th Annual Minnesota Book Awards Gala on Saturday, April 18 at the historic St. Paul Union Depot. The opening reception begins at 7 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. Tickets are $50 and are available by visiting www.thefriends.org/gala.
Have you read Albedo? What are your thoughts? We welcome your comments!