Shoes for Baby

Shoes For Baby, the first full length book of poetry by poet and short fiction author Steve Sibra, showcases the versatility of this author, who captures different moods and scenarios by making use of ever-changing voices. The book contains over eighty poems, mostly free verse in format.

Sibra revels in both introspective and analytic styles mixed with pieces which are decidedly “story poems”, many reminiscent of growing up in Eastern Montana in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The stories he tells are often dark, bizarre, unsettling or absurd (The Ice Cream Dreaming of Weasel Monahan for example).

Different voices ricochet back and forth like pinballs within a chapter structure that loosely organizes themes and viewpoints, throwing the reader lots of curve balls at the same time (section headings include IN A BOWLING BALL FIGHT THERE ARE NO WINNERS and A FARMER’S HANDS ARE HIS BIBLE, which is the title of a Sibra poem which is not in this collection.

The author’s more serious side contemplates religion, morality, mortality, and of course love – many badges and scars are evident on the romantic side of this writer, and he makes no attempt to hide his victories and his tragic sense of loss.

The author resides mostly in Seattle but retains a connection to the farmlands of the Treasure State. Steve’s work has appeared in many lit journals over the years, including Jellyfish Review, Dead Fern, and Chiron Review, to name just a few.