Let Me Say This: A Dolly Parton Poetry Anthology, ed. Julie E. Bloemeke & Dustin Brookshire
Madville Publishing, 2023
I won’t ever pretend to be a Dolly Parton expert, nor will I claim expertise in poetry (though I am, by certain definitions, a poet), so my experience with Let Me Say This: A Dolly Parton Anthology comes from a purely subjective understanding of what is enjoyable to read. Let Me Say This is a first-of-its-kind collection of poems for, about, and to, the work, life, and human that encompasses Dolly Parton.
Poets and Dolly fanatics Dustin Brookshire and Julie E. Bloemeke edited the 122 pages of Parton-packed poems, and their Editors’ Notes set the stage for what this anthology ends up being: a tribute to resilience, kindness, community, and shameless self-love. Were we all to have what Dolly has, or give what Dolly gives! I’m sure that Brookshire would argue for Dolly’s Sainthood, since he describes himself as a “worshiper in the church of Saint Dolly Parton.” After reading Let Me Say This, you too might choose to worship at that altar.
The poems parade garishly through four sections, named after theme-appropriate Parton lyrics. It all begins with the collaboration poem, “Seventy-Five Lines for Dolly’s Seventy-Fifth,” by Maureen Seaton, Denise Duhamel, and Julie Marie Wade, which invokes Parton’s voice and oeuvre, interspersing memorable Parton quotes (“It costs me a lot of money to look this cheap”) with original lines (“Long ago I turned those busty blonde jokes / on their busty blonde heads and broke the chain”).
The anthology’s fifty-seven poems balance lyric with narrative, ode with abstract, and each piece reminds the reader how our individual impact is determined not only by our accomplishments, but by how well we make people feel seen and loved; how we, with varying degrees of power and influence, can make the world better for those with less. The poems in Let Me Say This are so broad in scope and subject that you’ll witness the experience of young black people stopping to sing along to Dolly at a summer party (Diamond Forde’s “The Great Equalizer”) nestled in the same bed as an all-Dolly drag show extravaganza (Nicky Beer’s “Drag Day at Dollywood”).
What I found in this anthology, among the variance in tone, subject, theme, and voice, is heart: southern (both proud and longing for escape), queer, nostalgic, rhythmic, experimental, big-to-the-point-of-bursting, and (let’s not kid ourselves) Dolly Parton-obsessed, heart. Many of these poems will stick with me for their stark imagery and earnest examination of Dolly’s decades-long legacy. Linda Neal Reising’s “Dolly’s Debut,” which paints a portrait of a southern girl inspired by a young Dolly’s first televised performance: “I dreamt of being her, believed that a plain / girl from the Ozark foothills could be remade / into a star, a nova, if only she believed.” David Matthew-Barnes’ “Walking to K-Mart to Buy a Dolly Parton Album,” is one of those poems that might be a movie one day. In the quiet, gorgeous narrative, a boy bonds with another boy, his protector (“He’s stronger than the others”), over Dolly. The little love story, heartbreaking and pure, demonstrates how good art inspires us to risk loving, even when it’s hard or shunned: “He makes me listen / until we know every word Dolly sings by heart. / While I wait until the coast is clear and it’s safe / to go home again, he offers me his version of / ‘But You Know I Love You’ and when he finishes, / he’s surprised to see me cry.”
Let Me Say This: A Dolly Parton Poetry Anthology is a unique addition to the anthology world. It gives us the things that we want from good poetry, but with that unmistakable Parton-imbued humor, joy, and gaudiness. Read it, and you might find yourself adding Dolly to your playlists or, who knows, erecting a homemade altar to praise Saint Dolly.
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Brendan Walsh has lived and taught in South Korea, Laos, and South Florida. His work has appeared in Rattle, American Literary Review, The American Journal of Poetry, and other journals. He is the author of six books of poetry, including fort lauderdale (Grey Book Press, 2019) and concussion fragment (elsewhere press, 2022). He is co-host of the Fat Guy, Jacked Guy podcast with Stef Rubino.