Customer Reviews

Deal Me In

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I find Alyce Guynn's poetry so much more accessible than most. It's not surprising that her book of poems is illustrated by a huge musical talent, Jessie Guitar Taylor. It would take Alyce's obvious love of loving, love of men, love of music--all so very evident in her writings to draw a talent like Jessie to her work. She is eloquent but not stuffy. Alyce and I obviously share a love of men i.e. any woman who writes that she loves (a man's) "dangle" has my attention. I am re-reading her poems again--this time reading one each morning as part of my preparations for living the day.

Beverly Moore, Austin, Texas

Deal Me In is a wonderful earthy book of poetry and art by Alyce Guynn and Jesse Taylor. Alyce's poetry and Jesse's art combine to tell a beautiful mysterious story of love, pleasure, spiritual bliss, and exquisite grief down through the years, a remarkable journey of two people unafraid of what life brought them, a glorious willingness to expose the private parts that allow us to join with them.

This is a book of love, from the beginnings of a young girl's heart to the wise woman's willingness to let go and hold dear. There are mysteries we can't know fully, leaving us delightfully curious, although I'd love to hear the stories (what are your vigilante ghosts?). The art work tells us that Jesse knew the stories, and understood them. There is the most delicate exposure of her grief, accepted. Her poems make the ordinary holy; she can bring down the Goddess, leading us to our own.

This book inspires the reader to take hold of the sacred available to us in every moment, and commands us to stop wasting time. The last line is "I am healed." Ah, yes.


By Catherine Cogburn

What I love about the book 'Deal Me In' is that it chronicles the loves of the poet's lifetime. Guynn pours out her passion not just for romantic love, but for life and music as well. Two of my favorite poems are "I Found My Jazz" and "Mary Pearl", a tribute to Janis Joplin. Guynn opens her soul to the reader with such phrases as "I stepped inside the fire of you, ignoring I am wood". While this phrase shows the vulnerability of love, Guynn's overall theme invites us to keep taking the risk anyway: "...embrace the end of what is, to welcome what will be reborn." Add to this the heartfelt illustrations of Jesse Taylor, and you have a winning hand in this book.

After reading this book of love poems I feel as though I've been welcomed into the author's inner circle of friends, like I've become one of her trusted confidantes. My favorite poem is "Blue Wind, Big River,"...Leaning against your resolve, I let you lead me through the mystery of no destination... Deal Me In is the celebration of life and love.