Christine Bienko

Unwinding Road Christine Bienko

There are many ways to tell a story. Photographs capture a moment in time, a memory made with the subtle twist of a lens. Music unfolds a feeling, a memory created with a subtle chord struck just so. Poetry creates an image, a memory awakened with a play on words that can mean almost anything.




The poems in Unwinding Road aim to tell a story. It is my story. It is about growing up and growing old. It draws on childhood memories, relationships and a whole lot of learning over the years. In fact, it could be anyone's story.




Unlike an epic poem that has its share of heroes and countless adventures, my story is told in three very familiar parts: the start (somewhere), the middle (maybe), and the end (but not quite). Life lived over time, imagined and reimagined as events mapped out on a road that winds back. Not as a linear set of events, but divergent moments called to mind for their intransient meaning and value.




We learn from stories. And we all have our share of stories. Unwinding Road is meant to open the reader's imagination as the poems within its pages bring a story to life.