Customer Reviews:

• "It is hard to convey the endless delight of reliving West's coming of age poems, so grounded in a Washington, D.C. of memory. We feel the rumbling of awakening sexuality and hear the undertow of racial prejudice...parallel to the giant shadow of war. Always there is suggestion of a deeper awareness, as in "Dickerson's Quarry" where there is something "under the fathomless water...no one had gone deep enough to find..." And now, time to reread it again." - Sauci Churchill

• "In poem after poem of this stunning collection that narrates a girl's growing up in Washington, D.C., Sharlie West has fused her mastery of narration with an uncanny ability to suppress the tale with what she leaves unspoken. This is alchemy of a remarkably spare, lucid sort. These narrative poems are rich with precise details that carry the poems forward and magically portray relationships in a telling phrase or two. Yet the poems are also allusive, resulting in the meditative and bittersweet quality that hovers over this remarkable sequence - which I didn't want to end." - Bonnie Naradzay

• "Sharlie West's chapbook, On The Avenue, skillfully renders a picture of the joy's and challenges of growing up against the background of World War 2. The poems are sometimes funny and at times, serious, but always beautiful." - Phyllis Berman

• "In West's strong new collection of narrative poetry, she presents a girl journeying from childhood to marriage. Her school years are spent against the backdrop of a city during the war and postwar years. "Duck and Hide", "Black Shades", nights "huddling under dark covers/waiting for bombs/to drop." Fortunate for the reader, there is also a romantic side. This is a Washington, D.C. few know or have written about. You will love this book more than once." - Kathleen Adcock

• "Well, another tour de force. This time, I got to ride along with the young girl as she came of age. Early images juxtaposed innocence and the realities of war; later as she found her identity and took risks when girls weren't supposed to dare. I could hear her young voice as I read the stories, brash, strong-willed and sweet all at the same time. Also, I felt like I learned about living in Washington. This is a must read for all native Washingtonians." - David Cockrell

• "In her latest book of poems, Ms. West treats us to delicious behind-the-scenes whisperings at "The Cocktail Party," while she deftly uses imagery and rhythm to transport us back to the very beginning of the rock and roll era with "Go Go Go,""Saturday Night," and "Blanche's Slumber Party." However, she never lets us forget there is a war going on through her use of contrasting imagery that is reminiscent of Richard Wilbur in "Snow Bed" and "Black Shades." As a result, the tension Ms. West creates in this collection of experiences "On the Avenue," makes the poetry in this book some of her best work yet." - Adele Steiner

• "Here is poem as artifact -- moments unearthed whole and dark and luminous as adolescence itself. As West takes us along on an urban girl's journey from childhood to school years and beyond, we catch glimpses of pegged pants and pompadours; follow the insistent pulse of jazz rhythms; and feel the tug of new love in the midst of a country facing war. The collection is a triumph not only of poetry, but of memory. I will return to it again." - N. Perian

• "Sharlie West's poetry has appeared in numerous journals, chapbooks, and anthologies. Her poetry focuses on a life punctuated by memorable moments in time: sledding in winter, the death of a neighbor, Pearl Harbor Day.

West's memories of adult concerns from the perspective of a child are powerful and poignant. These excerpts from the stunning poem "Aunt Ella" show clearly what life was like for families in the day before nursing home care prevailed:

        The wooden steps leading down
        were rickety and worn.
        I held tight to the railing.
        * * * *
        Aunt Ella never left the basement.
        Meals were brought
        for her indifferent hunger.
        A sip here, a taste there.
        She was hardly bigger than we were.
        Her clothes hung like forgotten rags.
        * * * *
        Sometimes I'd hear her shrieking
        like a wounded bird,
        and then the sound of shoes
        rushing down the stairs.

The poem "Old Kenneth" reminded me of my own childhood, in days when nurturing and protecting children was a joint effort shared by a variety of adults:

        He was always Old Kenneth.
        Standing over six feet tall, mammoth to neighborhood
        children, same tight red shirt every day,
        stomach overlapping his sagging denims.
        * * * *
        When it was his turn at bat, he'd plunk it deep to left, and
        kind of lope around the bases, belly bouncing,
        big grin on his face. Kenneth was our apartment's janitor.
        Keeper of keys. Watcher of children.

From earliest childhood to young adulthood, Ms. West remembers each pivotal moment as if it were yesterday. This excerpt from "The Girl of My Dreams" is the final poem in this chapbook, a bittersweet memorial to college tradition:

        The piano stopped
        as the Sigs gathered around me to sing
        The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.
        It would be the last time.
        Soon a new Sweetheart
        would be named.
        I would pass on the floral crown.
        Inside my stomach,
        a baby girl kicked.
        I patted the pleated top, sang
        the song just for her.

Sharlie West writes from the heart, in words every reader can understand. The beauty of these life moments, captured so eloquently, lies in its simplicity." - Laurel Johnson, Midwest Book Review