Release Date: July 20, 2026
Size: 6x9
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57869-399-3
Library of Congress Control Number: tbd
Booksellers and Libraries:Order Info Here or at Ingram.

SYNOPSIS

A retrospective poetry debut about the beauty of the invisible and the language of the heart.

In this current environment of chaos and uncertainty, Remember the Sweetness returns us to the uncluttered familiar. The poems explore the spirit alive in the ordinary that lends clarity in the face of loss and love. They revel in mysteries perceived through an interior lens. Written in free verse and prose, the poems move between sparse and generous musings, between playful and poignant. Rooted in a quiet strength with courage to examine, it is an intimate expedition through the peaks and tunnels of the heart.

Praise

“In her debut collection, Remember the Sweetness, Polly Giantonio offers a deeply personal exploration of memory, family, and the fleeting moments that shape our lives. Through vivid imagery and tender reflection, she weaves a tapestry of ordinary yet profound experiences: a praying mantis at the doorstep, the first blueberry picked from a bush, a vigil by a father’s bedside. With themes of loss, nostalgia, and quiet rebellion, Giantanio’s poems invite us into the intimate spaces of life’s small but significant moments—moments that echo long after they’ve passed. Whether meditating on the innocence of childhood or confronting the complexities of adulthood, Remember the Sweetness is a collection that speaks to the power of pause, the beauty in the overlooked, and the complexity of love.”

—Jim Bennett, managing editor of Poetry Kit (poetrykit.org)

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“To make small is not to break. To make small is not to lose. Polly Giantonio’s poetry asks us to observe what translated Roland Barthes calls shadows’ ‘bits of.’ The man’s hand that presses into the woman’s hip, ‘each finger of your flower’ and ‘one anvil of dark / dirt under my nails’ here telescope into the writer’s best job: translating even the smallest letters—’d looked like b—u like n  /  w like m’—so they become a way to move a writer’s hand against death and forgetfulness. Here’s to the poet’s mother’s half-smoked cigarette, still smoldering in this fine collection.”

—Terri Witek, Sullivan Chair in Creative Writing and professor of English at Stetson University

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“In Remember the Sweetness poet Polly Giantonio leaves behind the noise of ticker-tape chatter and reaches past the banal life of suburbia with its bookend beliefs. Her poems recognize a telling detail, how a praying mantis resembles an emerald queen, the way a tool handle picks up the polish of a maker, and a blueberry reveals the fullness of a season’s sweetness. The world is seen through the eyes of an owl. We rise like a monarch from a chrysalis. Some of the strongest poems in this collection are ekphrastic, inspired, for example, by an Edward Hopper painting or Rodin’s ‘The Kiss.’ Giantonio looks backward and now forward through an open window. We join her at the sill and breathe in the light.”

—Gary W. Hawk, author of Into This Radiance, Kayaking Flathead Lake

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“Polly Giantonio’s poems locate the spirit-hearts of ordinary moments. Traversing topics of nature and family, life and death, she examines the delicate chains of being we take for granted. Each poem, like the butterfly in the poem ‘Liftoff,’ climbs ‘out of chrysalis’ to do a celebratory dance, finding the beauty in the quotidian. Whether examining ‘half naked trees with taffeta skirts’, or recalling—without a flinch—her mother’s ‘head of chemo fuzz’, Giantonio directs us to observe. Alongside her, we ignore our chirping phones to relish the smallest details of the everyday. By steering us away from the noise of the world, she gifts us with sweetness.”

—Elizabeth Cohen, author of five poetry collections, one short story collection, and the memoir The Family on Beartown Road

Meet the Author

Polly Giantonio’s poems have appeared in various journals including the Comstock Review, Café Review, and Poets & Writers. She lives in rural Vermont and has led writing workshops for the Vermont Arts Council, the Central Vermont Council on Aging, and the Vermont Community Foundation.