The Right Mistakes: Poems On Imperfection and Renewal

In The Right Mistakes, Pamela Brothers Denyes assures us she will write "simple as the first words you remember from your child's mind." And she does, but it's the wisdom of a woman who has thought long about life and is able to express what she sees. Pamela speaks of "An internal life so rich that others may not approach without invitation," and yet she invites us into her conversation about the fog and the woods, the shattered dreams we leave in the basement, the magic of a garden and the seasons, friendship and desire-and anger and loss. Pamela's poetry makes you think and sometimes wince at the raw look at humanity, and stand up from your chair for the joy of language.

Clay Jenkinson

Host of The Thomas Jefferson Hour

Author of The Language of Cottonwoods



Pamela Denyes is an optimist by choice. Who but an optimist would admit mistakes can be right, much less aspire to making them? Pamela turns her optimism outward in encounters with the world and inward as she strives to improve herself. She seeks renewal through walks in the woods and gardens, and becoming one with good music. Pamela knows you "must carry your own peace with you everywhere you go." As you read these poems, you'll feel peace and gratitude spill off the pages and into your heart.

Alarie Tennille

Author of Three A.M. at the Museum and Waking on the Moon



The Right Mistakes takes us down a yellow brick road, where we just might be able to find our best selves. Pamela Denyes does it well, marching through mistakes translated into victories. Her words, "honest as open wind," bare naked the soul. Pamela takes readers on a journey familiar yet unexpected, dancing with the dualities of life to make us a little more whole. This collection, which unequivocally comes to remind and to renew, is a literary success.

Latorial Faison

Author of Mother to Son and 28 Days of Poetry Celebrating Black History, Vols. 1 - 3