Some Have Gone and Some Remain

“In Some Have Gone and Some Remain, Robin Stratton takes the reader on a guided tour of her path from childhood to adulthood, with all its discoveries and insecurities, its moments of small tragedies and triumphs. She describes the stops along the way with honesty and a fine eye for detail. And with particular skill she evokes the innocence, excitement and vulnerability of a young girl learning how to navigate the world. She also shines a revealing but gentle light on her parents and siblings, balancing the difficult moments with flashes of the good-natured, goofy humor that helps every healthy family persevere and is utterly absent in unhealthy ones. An ambitious and well-executed collection.” ~ Charles Coe, All Sins Forgiven: Poems for my Parents, and Memento Mori

“As I read Robin Stratton’s latest collection, Some Have Gone and Some Remain, I had the most heart-breaking feeling of déjà vu: I’d been to the sleepovers down in the rec rooms; I had those stuffed animals—the snake, the monkey, the clown. Stratton’s collection of poetry and prose spans four decades, a continent, the globe, and yet stays true to the voice that jokingly claims, ‘every single story about me is fascinating.’ And we are fascinated, not only by this young girl whose mother likened her to a hurricane, but also by the deep levels of trauma that accompany her life as she observes, ‘It’s funny what silly things/trigger emotions that go with grief.’ Sexual curiosity, shame, and violence are juxtaposed with Dostoyevsky and Flashdance sweatshirts. Some Have Gone and Some Remain is a study in loss—parents, friends, pets—played to the tune of Orleans’ ‘Dance with Me.’ I loved this book for its emotional clarity, and I found myself rooting for Stratton as she stepped―sometimes boldly, sometimes reluctantly―into each new facet of growing up, and discovered that she turned out to be the person she always wanted to be.” ~ Jennifer Martelli, author of The Uncanny Valley and My Tarantella

“In Some Have Gone and Some Remain, Robin Stratton takes us on a retrospective, a slideshow of love, loss, nostalgia and hope. Simmering within these poems and essays is a sweet, simple and honest invitation to witness the many interludes that make up one human life.” ~ Nancy Stohlman, author of Madam Velvet’s Cabaret of Oddities

“In Some Have Gone and Some Remain, Robin Stratton takes us on a journey of life and all its stages. We meet three versions of the poet: the young woman, wide-eyed and facing the world with palms open, the adult daughter, who’s forced to part with her parents, her dog, her boyfriend, and eventually her life in Boston. Finally, her losses are lessened by the love of an intellectual and spiritual equal. Like her new boyfriend, the paleoanthropologist, Stratton has mined her past for its brightest gems and has brought them with her on this journey across the globe. The reader is lucky to go along for the ride.” ~ Amye Archer, author of Fat Girl, Skinny