This is the first in an occasional series of shout-outs (shouts-out???) to writers of slim volumes, which may pass in the night without much acclaim, but which are very, very good. (Now that is a tortured sentence if I ever wrote one.)

Let me set the scene. In May my husband and I were visiting friends in southern IN. The local steamboat museum what having a chautaugua and I cannot pass up a chautaugua. In the writers’ area were several local Louisville and southern IN writers, publishers and poets. I browsed locally published novels, talked with a delightful man who had his own fledgling print-on-demand publishing house, and stopped dead still at one table.

My eyes spotted a chapbook of poetry with the most outlandish title and cover design. NUNS SHOOTING GUNS. What’s not to like with the title? It’s outrageous, over the top, and sassy. I talked with the poet, Sheri Wright, for quite a while. She took her title from a 1957 photo of The Sisters of Divine Providence who were in habits and held guns. I bought the book for its title and cover art. (Who says cover art doesn’t sell books??)

I kept the book for the fine poetry inside. Several poems made me laugh, some made me cry, some did both. My favorite is “Cut Flowers” on breast cancer. The subject is a woman who underwent a double mastectomy and then had flowers tattooed where her breasts had been. And then went topless at the beach!

So, buy Sheri’s book. Yup, shameless promotion. You can reach her at [email protected]. She gave me permission to publish her e-mail, so please, please buy her book!

Sheri, don’t stop writing. I love your work and my two critique groups did too.