“From a third-person perspective and poems that seem like “seeds of life sown in heaven’s fields” bursting into bloom, D. Stribling skillfully harvests memories from many years experience that are converted into food for thought and “joy washed down with sweet water”  that are at once local, intimate, geneological, religious, robed in overalls, and dedicated to “those who work with their hands and hearts.” In the end, these poems reach out and touch the world—“with snow swirling and sparrows flying”--with a new musical note for each poem creating a symphony of love’s memory in an homage to ancestors and ancestral turf as she listens as her papa’s laugh, music, and watch tick time away.” - Thomas Rain Crowe, author of Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods

“In Torn Screen – Bent Frame, D. Stribling journeys to “remember, honor, love” in each poem and reminds us that we “are all connected/Spirit wrapped in a quilt of memory.” This talented and thoughtful poet invites the reader to “live within this journey” she has crafted from a life lived abundantly, and each poem, each line stands as a reminder to us all that our own lives, like those of these speakers and perhaps the poet herself, are “(s)hards salted into/cracks” to be remembered and held close. Nestled into her nightgown fresh from clothesline day/dream colors await magic visions deep.” These lovely poems do indeed hold magic. In poems such as “Abandoned Land” Stribling honors each tree that “birthed barrel staves” and “where hope bursts into/bloom across” the wildness of flowers around the homep lace. Torn Screen Bent Frame reads like a well-crafted memoir. Yet lines such as “Mountains rise to say he’s close/but stars are dancing with his ghost” reveal the well-honed wordsmith of a talented poet.  At the end, the reader is glad Stribling “was born so she could touch the world.” - Sue Weaver Dunlap, author - A Walk to the Spring House, Knead, The Story Tender