Community comes out en force to support local poet

By Laura Ray | Feb. 5, 2024

MURRAY - Murray poet Charley Allen-Dunn celebrated the recent release of her chapbook, “The Scar It Leaves,” at a well-attended book signing and reading hosted by the Murray Art Guild Friday night. Set in the hills of her native western Kentucky, Allen-Dunn’s anthology addresses how childhood experience can shape adulthood.

Poet Charley Allen-Dunn poems from her new book "The Scar It Leaves" to a packed house at the Murray Art Guild Friday night.Photo byLauray Ray/For the Sentinel

MAG Executive Director Debi Danielson said the crowd was impressive, estimating around 50-60 people attended the event. Guests enjoyed refreshments as the local author diligently sold and signed copies of her new book for a line of fans both before and after reading a few select poems.

First up was the book's preliminary poem, “Until it pops,” which Allen-Dunn explained is about the “anticipation of something that you know is going to happen, and it’s not great and just that nervous anxiety.” In the poem, a child blowing up a balloon is used as a metaphor for “hating the buildup,” as the author described, and “knowing before you know,” as the poem itself reads. As its last stanzas point out, it is human nature that although one may know what’s in store, “We pucker our lips all the faster, and begin to blow.”

Allen-Dunn also read the poem from whence the book gets its title, which itself is entitled, ‘At what point do you stop reaching for the flame?’ In it, the poet has fun with phonetics, sounding out the word “hot.” Here is an excerpt:

Hot. HhhhhhoT.

Drag it out,

blow into the h,

let it breathe and spread,

then a quick ah and clip.

Stop hard with the T.

HhhhhhhhoT

Let the h rumble like the purr of a motor,

puff your cheeks around the o at 10 and 2,

now slam the brakes. Throw your arm out.

T

Let the h build like the heat as you move your hand closer,

warmer, warmer, then touch it. The sharp inhale,

the rapid recoil of the T.

A blister already beginning to bubble. We feel the heat,

we grow to expect the burn, we learn and remember

the sharp sting that doesn’t fade for days.

The scar it leaves.

Before reading her moving and evocative poem, “There’s a poem in this place,” the Graves County native acknowledged the difficulty of growing up gay in this area. (Read the full poem here.)

Allen-Dunn reads select poems to the crowd during the Murray Pridefest Pride in the Park event in September.Photo byJessica Paine/The Murray Sentinel

“There's an isolation that is hard to explain when you're raised to think who you are is bad or that you should be ashamed,” Allen-Dunn explained in an interview. “There are elements of that in a lot of my work - the struggle to survive and break free from toxic relationships (with people or substances).”

Those who identify as LGBTQIA+ can struggle to feel accepted in rural culture and even within their own families, but the room was full of belonging on Friday night.

“I’m still wrapping my head around what actually happened,” Allen-Dunn posted on Instagram, reflecting on the evening. “It was unreal and I am blown away by the support of this community. It was so much more than I ever imagined. Thank you to everyone who was there. Thank you to everyone who wanted to be but couldn’t make it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope you find something in the words I wrote you can carry with you. I hope it brings you comfort and serves as a reminder that no matter what path you’re on, you don’t have to walk it alone.”

Author Charley Allen-DunnPhoto byRobyn Pizzo

"The Scar It Leaves," which was published by Finishing Line Press, is available locally at Bolin Books or online at Bookshop.