Behind the Pictures I Hang

In Behind the Pictures I Hang, many poems encompass the theme of love. When Ada Jill Schneider “counts the ways,” she speaks of more than young love. Rather, it is the joy that comes with the birth of a child, loving through sorrow, devotion to family—an abiding love that has endured into the poet’s seventies. As for Ron, her husband of over fifty years, she shamelessly discloses that romance and passion are not only for the young. 


Schneider’s work also reflects her admiration for the fervor of others, from Michael James, the renowned quilt maker, to Pam Wilkinson, her irrepressible hairdresser in Fall River, to the “Psychiatrist with Gorgeous Shoes.” Peek behind these pictures Ada Jill Schneider has so expertly hung, and discover a portrait of love, and sometimes “Fireworks,” that is very personal, and at the same time, universal.