Talking to Strangers

In her first book of poems, Patricia Dobler records her memories of the Ohio mill town where she grew up in the 1950s. but the poems range over time and the memories of others, as well: her immigrant Hungarian grandparents, her parent’s tensions during hard times ( Years spilled on the kitchen table, / picked over like beans or old bills ), the dangers, losses, and occasional triumphs of hard-working men and women.