Magnified --by Minnie Bruce Pratt

 I had the opportunity to attend an electronic reading of Minnie Bruce Pratt where she read some of the poems from this book. I knew what I was getting when I ordered it. These are poems she wrote as the love of her life was dying.

 

I knew they would be beautiful, and I knew they would be sad, but I was totally unprepared for the depth of emotion they brought forth. I laughed, I cried, and at times a deep primal scream of heartfelt pain escaped from my lips.

 

As an aside, Ms. Pratt is lesbian, as was her true love. I mention it because she did both at the reading and in the book. This is not, in my opinion a “queer lit” book. It is about a woman deeply in love, who cared for, nursed, held, loved another being until the very end. It is a book of loss. Anyone who is truly alive, anyone who has ever lost a lover or a friend, will be blessed by reading this book and know they have never truly been alone.