WATCH 'TANGO' LAUNCH VIDEO NOW
WATCH 'TANGO' LAUNCH VIDEO NOW
Tango
by Terry Godbey
Tango was the result of a long birth — my last book, Hold Still, was published in 2014 — punctuated with years in which I didn’t write a single poem. It was joyous to find my poetic voice again, and I believe Tango was worth the wait.
Its poems span youthful awakenings, a renewal of hope after hardship, and love’s surprises as well as a reckoning with the inevitable terrain of illness, loss, grief, and aging. Throughout all 66 pages, memory kept the candle lit.
Echoes of an Afternoon
These photos carry the spirit of the afternoon — laughter, conversation, and the presence of community. Each image is a reminder that the launch of Tango was not just about a book, but about the people who came together to honor it. They are fragments of memory, stitched into a larger story of connection and celebration.
My son, Tyler Glenn, and I catch up with Amanda Jones Wiley and Kim Britt.
Poets extraordinaire Laura Sobbott Ross and Susan Lilley.
Dr. Lauren Cooper, my chiropactor, and her assistant, Tina Miller.
The incomparable Lezlie Laws and Jenifer Patrick.
Fiction writer Jamie Poissant and Burrow Press publisher Ryan Rivas.
Lisa Elliott with her homemade quiches, sausage and hash brown bites, and apple cider muffins.
With my current and former co-workers from Marriott Vacations Worldwide.
Elissa Jacobs with her daughter, Mikayla.
“Terry Godbey’s collection exudes the endearing emotional intimacy of Ellen Bass mingled with the spunky sexy candor of Kim Addonizio. Readers of all ages will find kinship in these candid poems. Tango is a dazzling tribute to womanhood.”
— Lana Hechtman Ayers, author of The Autobiography of Rain and When All Else Fails
“Terry Godbey fixes her imaginative attention on truths one cannot possibly imagine when young and yearning to be older, wanting to taste the cinnamon of summer nights. The gorgeous poems here pinpoint moments that bloom into deep experience and memory.”
— Susan Lilley, Orlando’s Inaugural Poet Laureate and author of Venus in Retrograde
“As stunning as it is, and just as improbable in the wake of grief, Tango brings us the rush and electricity of love. Godbey dances her way, poem by poem, into a new life.”
— Brian Turner, author, The Wild Delight of Wild Things and Here, Bullet
“Terry’s poems are sensual, with such acidity. We have to look around after reading them, to see if we’ve been caught.”
— John Paul O'Connor, musician and author of Half the Truth
“With her poems, Terry Godbey tells stories that break your heart, over and over."
— Martin Achatz, English Professor at Northern Michigan University and author of Saint Marty blog
About Terry
Terry began writing poetry in earnest in 1999, inspired by her 5-year-old son’s fascination with trains. Since then she has published five books and several hundred poems in literary magazines including Poet Lore, Rosebud, Passages North, The Florida Review, CALYX, Rattle, Slipstream, Harpur Palate, Connecticut Review, The Café Review and Pearl.
Terry lives in Orlando, Florida, in a townhouse that backs up to a conservation area that is home to pileated woodpeckers, hawks, wild turkeys, marsh rabbits, deer and the occasional bobcat, which she enjoys photographing. She has a pet blue-crowned conure, Oliver, who laughs exactly like she does, calls out her favorite sayings and “answers the phone.” After decades in the newspaper industry and several years as lead writer at Darden Restaurants, Terry works as a senior writer at Marriott Vacations Worldwide.
