“Immediately I am struck by the splendor of the images in this book, the richness of the reading, the desire to forge a world on the page. Yet I believe Shannon K. Winston’s poetry finds itself even more when passion meets concentration, even more when the words are simple and essential, as it was with the beloved Montale. The poet finds a palpable balance in poems like “Fez, Morocco,” where thought, sound, and emotion converge like “sesame seeds blooming” inside of men’s mouths. Threads Give Way is a mature debut book.” Antonella Anedda, author of Il catalogo della gioia.

“With a tender eye and deft use of the line, Shannon K. Winston reveals the beauty in the unsaid and the unripe pear, in the old scar and the slipped strap. Negative space pulses with life, as “cicadas buzzed between hedges of sound” and a man’s bruise blooms “like an African violet.” Even the tiniest forms are shown for the part they play in the vast: “Salt shimmers on its braid-like/strands which pull in disparate directions/ over the skin of the ocean.” Threads Give Way shimmers, giving voice to the tensile strength of the threads that almost hold the universe together.” Leslie McGrath, author of Opulent Hunger, Opulent Rage.

“Shannon K. Winston writes of the real world and – more importantly – the secret, inner life of that world. Her poems are filled with quiet leaps of surreal lyricism that engage and astonish. Throughout the book, there is a subtle music: a quiet and unassuming voice that intimates a remarkable attention to the natural landscape and our longing to be part of it. Threads Give Way marks an impressive debut.” Linda Nemec Foster, author of Talking Diamonds.