BOOKMONGER
Poetry confronts realities of multiple sclerosis
‘Intention Tremor’ is the April Coast Weekend Book Club pick
April is National Poetry Month — as if
we could confi ne poetry to a single month
of the year. I’ll take any opportunity to
proclaim the relevance of poetry, so now
that April is here, I’d like to tout a pro-
lifi c Northwest poetry publisher, MoonPath
Press, which moved with its managing edi-
tor, Lana Hechtman Ayers, from Kingston,
Washington, to Tillamook a couple of years
back.
One of the MoonPath’s new books is
“Intention Tremor” — a hybrid collection of
poetry and prose by Tamara Kaye Sellman.
Sellman was a journalist who embarked
on an exciting midlife career change to
work with sleep technology — when she
was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Even
so, she gritted through her program, earn-
ing two medical credentials and working at
a sleep lab for a couple of years.
Since then, she has shifted to a busy
schedule as a health care columnist, science
journalist and online advocate.
The
Illahee
Apartments
Sellman’s pieces refl ect on her diagnosis:
“‘Here is the proof,’ Dr. K said, clicking
magnetic / scans of my brain, the remark-
able white holes, / the countless grains of
salt that could grow larger.”
Her work also details what disease pro-
gression feels like, as her immune system
attacks the protective sheath that covers
nerve fi bers, disrupting the brain’s fl ow of
information:
“There were stars in my mind’s sky, and
then, / one night, there weren’t.”
The no-punches-pulled poems that con-
tain these lines, and Sellman’s other writ-
ings, are an affi rmation for those who are
living with multiple sclerosis and an educa-
tion for the rest of us.
Readers will learn about the symptoms
and syndromes that may arise in conjunc-
tion with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis, as
well as the drugs that can help stave off the
worst eff ects of the chronic disease.
In “Pill Popper at the Blue Star Diner,”
Sellman turns her daily regimen of ther-
apeutic meds into poetry — even as they
spill out of her pill box and onto the lunch
counter, “escapees shaped as capsules,
tablets, / gel caps in orange, white, pink,
brown, / or teal …” and attract the judgment
of fellow diners who “stare from behind
club sandwich / bites, or forkfuls of fried
This week’s book
‘Intention Tremor’ by Tamara Kaye Sellman
MoonPath Press — $16
Coast Weekend Book Club
Featuring Tamara Kaye Sellman, author of
‘Intention Tremor’
6 p.m. Wednesday
Tune in at facebook.com/coastweekend
or on Zoom (Meeting ID: 968 9978 7527,
password: 299207)
eggs …”
In another poem, speaking of herself in
second person, Sellman talks about the boon
a medication can off er: “You covet your
capsule, your personal Hope Diamond.”
Sellman also delves into additional strat-
egies that people living with multiple scle-
rosis use to cope.
And she speaks to every single one of us
in the poem titled “Quarantine.” As some-
one who is immunocompromised, she prac-
tices the necessity of self-quarantining
through fl u season every year. This poem
was written pre-pandemic but Sellman’s
acerbic observations about people who
eschew science, citing freedom of choice,
will ring true for many more of us now.
“Intention Tremor” is a wake-up call in
more ways than one.
The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd
McMichael, who writes this weekly column
focusing on the books, authors and publish-
ers of the Pacifi c Northwest. Contact her at
bkmonger@nwlink.com
Brumfi eld Gallery debuts ‘Brave New World’ show
Downtown Astoria’s
Most Respected
Apartment Complex
Since 1969.
1046 Grand Avenue
Astoria, OR 97103
503-325-2280
10 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
ABOVE: ‘Just Ducky 3’ by
Morgan Brig. LEFT: ‘Float
Some’ by Brig.
Brig, as she creates new art.
ASTORIA — Brumfi eld
Gallery’s new exhibit will
be on displayed starting
Saturday at 1033 Marine
Drive.
The exhibit, “Brave New
World,” features new works
by artist Morgan Brig, a
3D collage artist. The show
will run until June 6. The
show is viewable online at
brumfi eldgallery.com.
Brig’s fi gures bring “dis-
parate materials to create a
unifi ed being, imbued with
emotive human expression.”
Her art includes symbolic
imagery and found objects.