"In 'Peer Gynt' Henrik Ibsen wrote 'To live is to war with trolls in the vaults of heart and soul. To write is to sit in judgement of oneself.' I have found that, in order for life to have any meaning, both sides of that prescription must be thoroughly fulfilled. This book is the result of my own battle with the trolls, and the years of careful self-analysis which came after. My fight took place in the antiseptic halls and silage-scented barn of a South Carolina orphanage. Clarity came much later, once that story was focused through the crystal lens of form. Another great writer, Margaret Atwood, said that in order to become a writer a child must be given 'solitude and books'. Loneliness, isolation, and imaginative food are required for the creation of an inner world that is strong enough to draw from. In many ways, this collection is the record of the space where mine grew." Bethany W. Pope
