Awards and Reviews
These pages gather the words, recognition, and generous attention This Is Not About Poems has received.
I’m deeply grateful for every encounter.
“Her volume’s ekphrastic poetry is reminiscent of William Carlos Williams’ imagist poems that translate visually striking natural scenes into words.”
— Dana Rufolo, from her review of This Is Not About Poems
Review by Dana Rufolo
Diana Button’s volume of poetry titled This is Not About Poems immediately leads us to think of René Magritte’s famous oil painting-plus-title “Ceci n'est pas une pipe” (This is Not a Pipe) where the artist cleverly distinguishes the image from the object of which the image is a copy.
But the Belgium artist isn’t Button’s only source of inspiration. Her volume’s ekphrastic poetry is reminiscent of William Carlos Williams’ imagist poems that translate visually striking natural scenes into words. It is a poet’s ode to natural beauty and the physical world.
Button’s poems are also philosophical; natural phenomena, especially the odd ones such as walking trees, give us something to mull over. Earth’s lifeforms are a treasure trove, but there is more to them than meets the eye. In her poem This is Not About Returning, for instance, she tells us about “those faint lines/between lake and sky, / boat and shore/ among watercolour clouds”. But she also tells us about “the human heart”, meant metaphorically to describe our longing for “home”.
And there is humour: one almost hears delighted chuckles in the background when reading the elegant poems. A tongue-in-cheek introduction penned by “ChatGPT” signals to us that Diana Button’s poems will be playful and bold.
Artificial Intelligence is not her only friend. Indeed, she is having a secret affair … with an oak tree. And she collects poems in woods “each leaf beneath my feet …waiting to be gathered/waiting for a home.” There is nothing menacing in the spaces of green or purple where vegetation abounds and other humans are absent. In those spaces, Button is alone with the speechless ones who, like good fairies, bestow eloquence upon her.
Purple, for instance. In the poem This is Not About Purple, that colour which is an amalgam of blue and red embraces a phantasmagorical parade of images: the wind’s mood, a translucent pool/ spilled across dusk, the mountain’s shadow, a mighty horse, a dream, pigment and longing, dawn’s first note.
It is no wonder that This is Not About Poems won the Firebird Award in July 2025 in the categories of philosophical and spiritual poetry. After her final poem, This is Not About the Body that asks if “we will/give up hatred/of self, of other/and turn toward/what really matters”, Button leaves us with a postscript that suggests, like a light wind rustling leaves, that “If this is not about poems, / perhaps it’s about how we listen – /to trees, to silence, /to the life between the lines”.
— Dana Rufolo
Dana Rufolo is an award-winning essayist, poet, and playwright, twice honoured with the Luxembourg National Literature Prize for her philosophical essay The Forest of Luxembourg and for her poetic surrealistic play Mirror-Lake and Me-Me.
Her narrative poetry book I Am Viola da Gamba was staged at the Conservatoire de Luxembourg with original music composed for the piece. A national literary figure in Luxembourg, her writings are housed at the Centre National de Littérature. You can read more about Dana Rufolo on the Luxembourg Lexicon of Authors page (Luxembourger Autorenlexikon) here.
Dana’s work explores aesthetic empathy and embodied language, often in collaboration with dancers, musicians, and other artists. She is the founding director of the Theatre Research Institute of Europe (TRIE), which blends performance and social inquiry.
Since 2016, she has served as editor-in-chief of Plays International & Europe, where she nurtures the distinct voices of theatre critics across the continent.
Honoured by the International Firebird Book Award
This Is Not About Poems was honoured in the International Firebird Book Awards, in July 2025, receiving First Place in Spiritual/Spiritualism, and Second Place in both Poetry and Best for Provoking Philosophical Discussion. Judged by a panel of 27 readers and writers from varied walks of life, each book is read with care and evaluated for both its literary craft and its production quality.
But the Firebird Award is more than recognition — it’s part of a wider gesture of kindness. Entry fees support women and children experiencing homelessness, helping transform shelters into spaces of comfort and color through handmade pillowcases and books, delivered with love. Founded by Patricia J. Rullo and powered by Speak Up Talk Radio, the Firebird platform also uplifts authors and creatives through interviews, reviews, and outreach — creating not only a moment of celebration, but a ripple of generosity.
As a Firebird Book Award winner for my poetry collection This Is Not About Poems, I was invited to share a series of short audio reflections on Firebird Radio —each one offering encouragement and inspiration to fellow writers.
In this first 3-minute clip, I speak about how I came to grow into my "poet shoes" (or more accurately, my poet hat) and offer an invitation to all poets listening.
Through the lens of my poem What to Remember Each Morning, I share a few reminders I once gave myself—gentle, grounding advice for the creative path.
You can also listen and download here.
Voices of Response
“So evocative... an absolutely brilliant poem!”
— Louise Broomberg on reading This Is Not About A Slippery Fish
In this intimate reading, Louise Broomberg offers her voice — clear, grounded, and full of grace — as she reads This Is Not About a Slippery Fish aloud and shares her reflections. Her interpretation, drawn from sincere perception rather than any claim to authority, deepens the poem’s quiet current and invites a slower kind of listening.
I am grateful for her presence here.
This and other readings of poems from the book can be found on the Selected Poems page of this website, and also on Diana’s dedicated SoundCloud page.
Reader Impressions
Words shared by readers who encountered This Is Not About Poems and felt moved to respond. Each voice reflects a personal reading: attentive, open-hearted, and honest. I’m grateful for the ways they have seen into this work and let it speak.
“Read this book if you want poetry that doesn’t just sit pretty—it breathes, aches, and dares you to feel something real.”
— Amazon Reviewer of This Is Not About Poems
“This isn’t your typical poetry book: each piece starts by pretending not to be about something but then opens up into these gorgeous, unexpected meditations on life, resilience, and identity. The language is playful but deep, grounded in nature and bursting with quiet revelations.”
“I was personally very touched by the piece on Frida and Diego: a raw, reverent glimpse into love and pain, their protagonists long since gone and yet resurrected through Diana's pen. Read this book if you want poetry that doesn’t just sit pretty—it breathes, aches, and dares you to feel something real.”
— Amazon Reviewer
“This Is Not About Poems is a collection that quietly dismantles surface and structure, leading the reader into spaces where language, silence, and image interlace. Each poem begins with a deceptively simple title: "This Is Not About Clocks," "This Is Not About Beaches," but what follows is never just about the subject. These are layered meditations, rich with metaphor, where the unsaid hums just beneath the skin of the words.”
“One of my favourites that I believe might speak to many is "This Is Not About Ladybirds". It is a poem that dances between innocence and fragility, the small joys and devastations we try to hold in the palm of a single day. It's tender, unexpected, and leaves a lasting impression.”
“I highly recommend this book for readers who appreciate poetry that doesn’t rush to explain itself, but invites you to linger, to look again."
— Amazon Reviewer
“These are layered meditations, rich with metaphor, where the unsaid hums just beneath the skin of the words.”
— Amazon Reviewer of This Is Not About Poems