Brattleboro resident debut collection of poetry, Wanting It, is gathering praise from some of the state鈥檚 top poets. Vermont Poet Laureate Sydnea Lea calls it a 鈥渂rilliant book.鈥� Major Jackson refers to the poems in this collection as 鈥渁ncient secrets.鈥�
Whitney says the title of the book does not refer to one specific thing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the wanting it that鈥檚 beautiful, more so than the having,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f you get what you want, then you don鈥檛 get that tremulous longing.鈥�
The poems are playful and often erotic, weaving images of nature and rural life with small moments from everyday life.
In addition to poetry, Whitney writes a blog called 鈥�,鈥� which was once a column on parenting. She recently wrote about depression, which has been in the news following the suicides of Vermont Law School Professor Cheryl Hanna and actor and comedian Robin Williams, both of whom had suffered from depression.
Whitney says the stigma of depression is still strong. 鈥淚f people were able to come forth and say, 鈥楾his is happened to me,鈥� that would be a great place to start.鈥�
Whitney continues to write poetry, and she鈥檚 now assembling a collection of her essays on parenting.
She鈥檒l appear at the at the Fletcher Free Library on September 20.
