“Abstract of the World is a beautiful study of the soul.”
~ Cinda J
Bend artist and poet Cheri Lee Helfenstein has authored a book of poetry, Abstract of the World, that has been released from Dancing Moon Press.
In this very timely poetry collection, Helfenstein invites the reader on a compelling, yet worldly journey, through dreams and stark reality. Encompassing the deepest relationship between the love, loss and challenges within our lives, these poems bring us back to the most important sentiments of joy, connection and peace of mind. Abstract of the World is rich with artful metaphors, relatable discoveries and stunning visceral experiences.
Bend author Ellen Waterston (Hotel Domilocos, Via Lactea and Walking the High Desert) said, “This fine collection is at once dreamlike, pensive, elegant, deeply melancholy and hopeful. Nature emerges as the poet’s most reliable companion in poems staged against backdrops of cherished landscapes. That Cheri Lee Helfenstein is also a chanteuse and visual artist is clear as her poems sing with subtle hues and deft descriptions.”
“These poems yearn for the soul, finding in nature a quiet respite, to know the sun, the river, the sea in equal measure with the psyche, with memory,” said Carol Barrett, Ph.D. (Calling in the Bones, Drawing Lessons and Pansies). “The poet asks, “What loveliness do we all aspire to gain/when seeking the same peace and bliss/of flocks of birds and honking geese/the scurried squirrel, or the sleeping cat.” Throughout, Helfenstein calls us to “the tidal rise of the human spirit.”
Born in Washington State, Cheri Lee grew up in the Wenatchee Valley on the Columbia River. She traveled and lived in Alaska for eight years with one year on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline at the Arctic Circle. Cheri Lee is a 2017 Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference Alumni. In 2012, her poem For the Dead Dragonfly placed as a Winning Entry in the Literary Harvest Poetry Contest with the Central Oregon Writers Guild. Her first book of poems, Rock Speaks Loud, Soft yet Strong, was published in 1995, and her poem We Both Shall Rise was published in the 1992 National Library of Poetry Book. She’s published in several different genres of Poetry Anthologies.
Cheri Lee is also an artist. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with Honors from Southern Oregon University, Ashland, Oregon, with a bachelor of arts degree in painting and drawing. She also earned a Chinese Brush Painting Certificate from the University of Oregon, and completed the Art for Teachers Course at Oregon State University, Cascade Campus. Cheri Lee taught painting, drawing and art portfolio, as well as Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong for several years at Central Oregon Community College. She has been a Tai Chi and Qigong Practitioner for over 30 years. Cheri Lee is now retired from teaching to focus on her passions of writing, painting and travel. She resides in Bend.
Abstract of the World is available at local bookstores, online from Amazon.com and directly from the author at cl@cherilee.com. Release date: September 1, 2021 | ISBN 978-1-945587-70-2 | Paperback $15