Sunday, December 24, 2023

Tales from the CafĂ© [Book 2 of 4 of the series, Before the Coffee Gets Cold] –by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

 Publisher: Hanover Square Press; Original edition (October 12, 2021)

Language: English

Hardback: 256 pages

ISBN: 978-1335630988

5 Stars

 

I’m not sure where I first read about this series, but it sounded interesting, so I ordered a book. Thought I was getting #1 in the series, but ordered #2 by mistrake. Fortunately, this book contained 4 short stories, and I think I read somewhere that each book has 4 short stories in it.

 

The premise is, on a side street somewhere in Tokyo is a small, windowless basement coffee shop rumor has it one may travel back in time if they comply with the rules. The first rule is, you may only meet people who have been in the coffee shop. If you live in Tokyo, and wish to go back in time and meet the Emperor, and he’s never set foot in the coffee shop, well, you can go back, but not meet him. There is a rule that you can’t change reality, one that says while in the past you may not change seats in the coffeeshop, and perhaps the most important—you must return before your coffee gets cold, or else. Trust me, it’s the ‘or else’ that will get you! And, I did not give all the rules.

 

Although these are not murder mysteries, I would still call them ‘cozy’—they’re fun, and ‘comfortable’ to read in bed and not have bad dreams. I’m looking forward to reading the other three books.

Friday, December 22, 2023

Quantum Entanglement –Poetry Apocalypse Anthology

 Publisher: Bombaz Press (2023) / 548 S. Spring Street, Ste 1201 / Los Angeles CA 90013

Language: English

Paperback: 160 pages

ISBN: not shown

5 Stars

 

Poetry Apocalypse is a group of poets who frequently meet on a weekly basis to read their works. This is not a critique group, but a reading venue. The poems in this book are by many of the poets who meet and read weekly.

 

Some of the poems will bring tears to your eyes, and some will add more laugh-lines to your face. If you can find a copy, and you enjoy words, I strongly recommend you buy it. The poems (including prose poems) are written by many people, the photos are all by Janie Meine, and they are stunning. Ms. Meine is also one of the excellent poets in the book, and all the poets are excellent. 

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

A Howling--by Susan F. Blair

 Publisher: Press 53 (October 3, 2023)

Language: English

Paperback: 86 pages

ISBN: 978-1950413683

5 Stars

 

From the first poem, the first stanza of the title poem, I was hooked. “Candle flame shudders / an act of bravery / in the dark.” begins our adventure.  Blair takes us on the complete circle of life—insects, small furry animals, feathered ones, and her beloved sister. I found this book full of beauty, full of love, quite a bit of humor, and full of pathos. 

 

I do not care for spiders. At all. Well, when they are in my house. Outside, they’re fine. Her last poem, Black Widow Spider Soliloquies made me smile. I actually chuckled at “Scene V / Horatio     I die / Horatio     I dine”

 

A truly enjoyable book. Buy it. Read it. Review it.

Duck, Death and the Tulip--by Wolf Erlbruch

 Publisher: Gecko Press; Illustrated edition (August 1, 2016

Language: English

Hardcover: 38 pages

ISBN: 978-1877467141

Reading age: 9+ years

5 Stars

 

How do you explain death to a child? For that matter, how do you explain death to an adult? I think this is one of the best explanations I’ve ever read for anyone who was ever born and will eventually die. Even though I cry when I read it, and I’ve read it several times, I find the drawings delightful, and Death as friendly, and non threatening, as Duck.

 

I like that Death wears a nightshirt and is Duck’s size, that he’s sympathetic. But I love that Death doesn’t really know what happens when we die, either. And that he sees death as a part of the circle of life. 

 

If you are raising your children to believe in a Heaven and Hell, this might not be the book for you, but if you have an open mind, if you are curious, if simplicity, honesty, and beauty intrigue you, then I beg you to buy, read, and enjoy and share Duck, Death and a Tulip.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

blacked out borderland from an exponential crisis –by john compton

Publisher: Ethel Zine, 2023, www.ethelzine.com

Language: English

Paperback: hand made,54 pages

5 Stars

 

I had the pleasure to see Mr. Compton read at one of the Zoom Room readings I attend, loved his reading—the poetry and the voice, so invested time and money in his chapbook. Well worth it. Normally, I mark the poems I loved more than others, but ran out of markers, (they arrive soon). In going through the book again, I realize I really like them all.

 

His dead poet poems are marvelous, “before we understood that death was here” brought me to tears, as did “skyla.” And, I really want to know how he knows about me and my closet, as he obviously does, from his poem “i am dressed in mistakes.” But then, perhaps it’s a common failing of many poets and writers. “i am dressed in mistakes /// garnished over my body / like an appetizer… / …from sweet imperfections / scattered throughout…”

 

If you need capital letters this book is not for you. I don’t think I saw a single one. If you like to play with words, get raw emotion from tears to laughter, and everything in between, then this is a book for you. And how many hand-made books do you have, anyhow? 


Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Ten Little Indians --by Sherman Alexie

 Publisher: Grove Press; Reprint edition (March 17, 2004)

Language: English

Paperback: 243 pages

ISBN-13: 978-080214117;0

5 Stars

 

In full disclosure, I’ve been in literary lust with Sherman Alexie since I first read one of his books, and the lust lives. No, I’ve never met him. And I am NOT in lust with him, just his writing.

 

Also, my copy of Ten Little Indians is probably somewhat different than yours, as I read an “Uncorrected Proof.” 

 

I love short stories. And these did not disappoint. I laughed in many, got sad in a couple, and angry in one or two. Most stories are funny, most offer insight and might give you something to think about. Like Rez humor? Read this book. There is a reason Alexie wins awards for his writing. 

 

But why only 9 stories? Why not 10? Or did I miscount?

All of Us --The Collected Poems of Raymond Carver

Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (April 4, 1996)

Language: English

Paperback: 416 pages

ISBN-13: 978-03575703805

5 Stars

 

I knew Carver as a writer of short stories and somewhat excited when I heard he was a poet. My friend suggested I get this book, a good choice.

 

Carver knew no boundaries in his poetry. If he made a poor choice, he admitted it, he wrote of the beauty he saw and the pain he lived. He was honest in his poetry and accessible by anyone. Don’t think you like poetry? Try these poems, they’re like mini memoir, mini stories. 

 

He begins with Drinking While Driving, “It’s August and I have not / read a book in six months / except something called The Retreat From Moscow /…” His second poem, Luck, explains a lot, “I was nine years old. / I had been around liquor / all my life. My friends / drank too, but they could handle it.”

 

The last poem, before the Appendixes (which you’ll want to read, too) is Late Fragment, “And did you get what / you wanted from this life, even so? / I did. / And what did you want? / To call myself beloved, to feel myself / beloved on the earth.” Is there a better poem to end the book? To end his life? 

 

There are something like 300 poems in this book, will you like them all? Probably not, but the ones you will like, and you will like some, will speak to you as no other poem possibly could. This is a book every reader needs. 

Monday, September 25, 2023

One Fell Swoop --poems by Dig Wayne

 Publisher: innateDIVINITYbooks (June 25, 2023)

Language: English

Paperback: 71 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1953234049

5 Stars

 

These little poems pack a wallop. Some are pure fun; some will make you think. The book begins, “a ray of sunshine // a dog wags its tail” A subtle warning about DNA testing and the last poem, “low hanging fruit / … / let the truth be told”

 

Dig Wayne is a master storyteller, and these stories are masterfully told. A perfect book to read on a trip, at the beach, while visiting your in-laws. 

Walking Backward --poems by Margaret Stawowy

 Publisher: Kelsay Books (September 7, 2023)

Language: English

Paperback: 64 pages

ISBN-13: 978 1639803279

5 Stars

 

I have had the marvelous opportunity to see Ms. Stawowy read a few times at various Zoom venues, and when her new book came out, I couldn’t wait to order and read it. The book tells the story of her mother’s decline into dementia and discovering the secrets in her birth certificate. It is written in 4 parts: A letter to her Ancestors, then parts I Biological Family 1924, II Adoptive Family 1925 – 1960, and lastly III Fractured Family 1960 – 2018.

 

The letter, Dear Ancestors, introduces us to secrets, “So secret, if I could speak directly to you through soup cans, / the twine would spontaneously ignite.” 

 

Harry the Barber: Shotgun Wedding in Retrospect, begins Part I. And right off the bat, he blames the woman, it’s her responsibility to keep track of periods, to not get knocked up, to say no. Then we have poems by Bertha, the long-suffering wife, and Faye, the other woman. Then, the women get their say. The letter from the advice columnist is pretty true to the day. 

 

All poems begin with the name of the person telling/writing the poem. And if you should happen to get confused, Ms. Stowawy put an easily read Family Tree in the back.

 

Part II begins with a poem ‘by’ Fred: Counterfeit Father. He is part of the reasons for secrets as he begins, “When people examine the birth certificate, I want / no suspicions, no casting of aspersions. No one / thinking: rotten parents, rotten offspring. Everything / should look innocent as the infant herself.”

 

Part III is more about Doris: Looking Back and Doris’s War: Dementia and Doris: Return to the High Seas. It isn’t until then we meet Margaret as Me: Daughter of Doris,  Dear Mom, // After you died, I saw you / wrapped in a puncture-proof plastic, // You, Mother Mary/Kali, / angel/destroyer, // … // You once asked me to find / the parents who gave you away. / …// where I can her you. Them.”

 

The last poem, Fern: Remarrying My Parents, / I Have Mending the Ending. Fern a daughter of Berta and Harry, brings them back together, has them married posthumously in the Mormon Church. She is, “…the needle, the thread. // I have mended the ending.”

 

This book is a fascinating read of family and family interactions. Especially when some of those interactions are meant to be and stay, secret. And how DNA and the www. can become powerful search tools.

 

Heartedly recommend this book.     

The World According to Crow --by Sinead McClure

 Publisher: The Calendar Road Press (October 12, 2022)

Language: English

Paperback: 37 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1739102005

5 Stars

 

I attended a Zoom poetry reading where Ms. McClure was one of the featured readers. I don’t remember how many poems she read before I had already gone to the site and ordered her book. I marked half as favorites and on a reread, added more.

 

The book begins with The Word According to Crow.  It begins, “Rooks do good mimicry but this orator is no priest, / collarless and open=beaked he shifts his weight on the steeple. / His sermon, a daily litany of caws and trills. // … A black and white streak of cirrus-crow / evaporates to silence.”

 

The poems ask questions such as, “Where does Keshcorran go in the fog?” A good question, that. Several animals and birds speak in this collection (and a hill with caves). We hear from a pangolin, a jackdaw, and the world. The poem, Preparing my dog for reincarnation is a delight as she tries to give it cooking tips, teach it patience, only to come to the realization at the end that the dog has, “No care or thought / for any other moment.”

 

We read of fox and moth and end with, Dream Catcher “The dream catcher takes our harshest winters / hold tight, to spin forever from the alder.”  

 

This is a delightful book. One to be read and enjoyed many times.  

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Poems from a Blue Dot --by Brett Nelson

 Publisher: Brett Nelson, brnelson4@gmail.com

Language: English

Paperback: 130 pages

ISBN: 979-8-9867914-0-1

5 Stars

 

Full disclosure: Brett Nelson and I read at the same open mic venues now and then. I’ve always admired his poetry, so ordered the book. I am grateful I did.

 

Not only does he have narrative poetry that tells great stories, his poetry is accessible to anyone who isn’t sure whether they would like poetry or not. As an added bonus, there are about 36 color photos in the book, that he took and that give a more complete atmosphere (and also make me homesick for Albuquerque).

 

His first poem, Looking Right at Me starts with “Lying outside in the darkest places-- / in the middle of the Pecos Wilderness / or remote canyons on the Colorado Plateau, / … / so it feels like each and every star is / looking right at me. / They talk to me straight and clear. /”

 

Each poem is a mini memoir of his journey on this planet, this Blue Dot we all share. Each poem is a love story, whether between Nelson and Earth, or Nelson and Persons. American Stew tells how “I cook with lots of spices and don’t measure,” and ends with an admonition that he doesn’t want our country’s melting pot to melt down too much, “he wants the stew to remain a stew, not a puree.”

 

Alive and Awake, brings us to the end of this book. He’s still “hiking the gently rolling hills  / at the foot of the Sandia Mountains / …mindful of all I walk past,” until he gets to the end where we perhaps learn his secret to long life, “so I embrace it today and pull it close, / watch all I see and listen to the voice of the wind / and to my own mind and heart, / alive and awake to the day that offers itself.” 

 

Mr. Nelson embodies the Lakota Mitakue Oyasin, all my relations, in his book of poetry. 

Friday, September 15, 2023

What's Left --by Connie K. Walle

 Publisher: MoonPath Press (September 1, 2028)

Language: English

Paperback: 102 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1936657391

5 Stars

 

I remember Ms. Walle from several years ago when we’d meet at workshops in the Puget Sound area. I was delighted to see this book, and even more delighted to read it. I remember her as having a great sense of humor, and able to turn most any story into something humorous. My memory was correct.

 

This book of short poems (almost as short as she) gives us a fascinating look at the different faces of love, and even sex of the era. Ms. Walle tells of requited love, unrequited love, painful love, and ecstatic love, married love and not married love. There is pathos, humor, and some pain in this book. 

 

Her penultimate poem, “The Silence of Death” may bring a tear or two, her final poem, “Dying Wish” is the perfect ending for this book, an ending with a laugh—“Then, watch billbords / for my answer.”

 

Long live Connie Walle on our planet and in our hearts.

 

Owl Poems --by Zach Hively

 Publisher: Casa Urraca Press (December 13, 2022)

Language: English

Paperback: 72 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1956375114

5 Stars

 

This is a small book, with huge poems, and delightful art. Open the book and begin with the words: “World-watching Owl,” / wielder of wisdom, / … / into the necessities of both / beginnings and ends.” The poems after this first one run the gamut from prose to haiku, to narrative. 

 

Some of these poems brought forth laughter, all brought forth thinking. And the last poem, “An owl’s blessing”, oh, what a blessing it is. “May your feet always be quick, / because a chase is more fun. / … / I will mantle my wings around you, / All is not and never will be lost.” I have read this last poem over and over and over again. 

 

This is a delightful book, full of owl wisdom, and one I will read through many times.

Saturday, July 29, 2023

War Dances --by Sherman Alexie

 Publisher: Grove Press

Language: English

Hard Cover: 210 pages

ISBN 13: 978-0-8021-1919-3

5 Stars

 

This is a collection of short stories and poetry. Someone gave it to my Elder Brother of Choice, who could no longer hold a book or turn the pages to read. I read it to him before he died. We both had many laughs, Alexie, being raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation, had lots of great rez humor in it we both loved. 

 

The first piece in the book is a poem, “The Limited,” that ends: “Why do poets think / They can change the world? / The only life I can save / Is my own.” Yes, that is true, but Mr. Alexei brought happiness, and beautiful laughter to a dying man. That’s a karma-scrubber for sure.

 

Alexie’s characters are not only believable, but they are also gentle. They are real. And the stories they tell could easily belong to that guy alone in the diner, reading a book while he eats. Or pretends to read, because he hasn’t turned the page since I sat down. 

 

That’s not to say there isn’t anger now and then, but it’s resolved, and life goes on. This is a great bedtime read. It’s entertaining and won’t bring you nightmares. Heartily recommend this book.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

The Writing Retreat --a novel by Julia Bartz

 Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books (February 21, 2023

Language: English

Hardcover: 320 pages

ISBN-10: 1982199458

ISBN-13: 978-1982199456

Cost at time of reading: $27.00

5 Stars

 

This book was a page burner, and while I didn’t resent the times I had to put it down to take care of work, it was getting close. Having attended a few writer’s retreats through the years, I am extremely grateful none of them were like this one. Then, again, I may have gotten that dreamed for break.

 

If thrillers, especially psychological thrillers, are your go-to genre, go now, get this book. Not my normal go-to genre, but this one was fun. Not a lot of blood and gore on the floor, not a massive gush of adrenalin, no nightmares when I put it down to sleep. And the ending/epilog was great. It was unlike any other ending/epilog I’ve ever read.

 

My definition of a good novel is one where I can get lost in someone else’s world, and leave mine for a short time. I also want an HEA ending, or at least all the loose ends tied up, and a logical ending. It’s been a while since I read this book, but my memory is all the loose ends were resolved—and there might be a sequel! 

 

A good hot weather book to read—it takes place in winter with a snow storm.

Friday, March 3, 2023

A Thousand Horses Out to Sea --by Erika T. Wurth

 Publisher: Mongrel Empire Press (January 15, 2017

Language: English

Paperback: 80 pages

ISBN-10: 0997251735

ISBN-13: 978-0997251739

Cost at time of review: $15.00

5 Stars

 

Erika Wurth is Native American, and this book of prose and poems gives us an in-depth glimpse of what life is like for her, and dare I suggest, also her friends both known and unknown. What it is like to grow up not white in one’s own country where the dominant caste and culture is Euro-centric white.

 

Leaving the Glow is her first poem in this book where, “There are fireflies here, // We were greedy and beautiful and even ideal, / our white hands and Indian hands praying the same way,” before scattering into adulthoods, “leaving the glow of the evening far behind.”

 

There is pain in these poems, pain of loss, of love, of growing. She leaves nothing out, she gives us the hurt but also the beauty if one will just see it, welcome it. There is the beauty, even in pain.

 

Wurth’s poems are accessible to anyone who has ever breathed, who has ever been in love and lost that love. And found love again. Whether that love is family or romance or good friendship. The last poem, Light Over the Grass brings us back to more fireflies and a man she loved and could never have, who is now “…trapped in ice, / forever pure and still and smelling of sweetgrass. / Oh M, Mark, my M, my light, my wound…/ you are the light dancing over the grass…my God, where have you finally / gone?”

 

The Silk Dragon, Translations From the Chinese --by Arthur Sze

 Publisher: Copper Canyon Press, June 1, 2001

Language: English

Paperback: 156 pages

ISBN-10: 1556591535

ISBN-13:  9781556591532

Cost at time of review: $14.10

5 Stars

 

The most fascinating part of this book was the introduction. I usually find introductions to books of poetry to be dry and dull. This introduction was anything but. Sze shows us how he translated the poems from Chinese to English. The Biographical Notes on the writers, in the back of the book, are every bit as interesting as their poems, starting with T’ao Ch’ien (365-427), ending with Yen Chen (twentieth century). 

 

The first poem, by T’ao Ch’ien is Drinking Wine. That sounds like the perfect way to begin this book. Quite literally, every line was a poem in itself and ends with these four lines. “I hang a jug of wine on a cold branch: / then stand back, and look again and again. / My life spins with dreams and illusions. / Why then be fastened to the world?”

 

Wang Han’s poem, Song of Liang-chou gives us these words of wisdom, “Since ancient times, / how many soldiers ever returned?” It’s nice to know war isn’t new, it’s sad to know we haven’t learned much since ancient times.

 

Li Shang-Yin gives us Untitled poems, somewhat longer than many in this book, “A candle only stops weeping / when its wick becomes ash.” The book begins to wind down with a poem by Wen I-To, Dead Water. This was one of my favorites with the closing lines, “And if the frogs can’t endure the utter solitude, / let the dead water burst into song.”

 

Yen Chen, a modern poet, closes the book out with Red Rain, the final stanza reads thus: “A droplet tints a bone. / A droplet tints a smiling face. / February rain, red rain / is silently spread on the South Yangtze.” Red Rain tells the story of rain falling through smoke in a village with a new plow blade, children running and playing, and everyone wants to plow the first furrow. The bone could be from last night’s supper, the smiling faces are the men looking at the plow, and the running, playing children who welcome the rain. 

 

The one frustration I found, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Sze had the same frustration, were the poems written as songs to melodies I have no idea about, with a high probability of being lost to the passing of time. 

 

Since most of us are fastened to this world, I highly recommend buying and reading this book, available as a paperback and an electronic version. These are poems to read individually and slowly. Place the book on your nightstand, and open at random, read before sleep. Thank you, Mr. Sze for giving us such a book.

Saturday, February 11, 2023

Getting Here--by Thomas A. Thomas

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

2005

Paperback: 91 pages

ISBN: 1-4120-5292-0

English

5 Stars

 

The back of the book states “The poems in this book range from lyrical to surrealistic, despairing to sublime. the personae range from the monstrous, to the shamanistic, to the shamelessly in love.” I really can’t add anything to those truths. But I can add how the book affected me. Every poem has lyrical lines. Even the poems that I couldn’t relate to very much, contained great beauty. Thomas knows how to pick and choose his words, how to stitch them together into a different and melodious phrase. 

 

The opening poem, Horse Dreams, reached out, grabbed me, and pulled me into a marvelous adventure of reading pleasure with the opening lines, “Because my mother rides over / the night hills of this farm,” to “The horse dreams of poets running.” to the last lines of this poem, “In the sky between a poet’s fingers, glaciers; / at night, women with horses’ eyes / leap from the fingertips.” After reading this poem three or four times, I thought perhaps I should see what the rest of the book offered. It is full of treats.

 

In a few pages, we are on a surreal journey with yellow leaves, a yellow dog racing on the ceiling, and a disappearing yellow horse. I found The Wren Child Dreams particularly touching. I, too, have sat up with the same child, but I was much younger, and adults still ruled my life, and had not the sympathy for the wren child I did. It is touching, and warming, to know I was not alone, though I felt it at the time.

 

In I swim with dogs, he writes, “…the dogs / are a sea, their smell a tide upon gently curved / hills and fields, running” The poem finishes with, “…I / run, I sing, I / swim with dogs.” To be young again. To run and sing, to howl and swim with the dogs. From swimming with dogs, he takes us on a journey to Love in Dear Stranger, Return with the last line offering not just a prayer, but a promise, “When the heart is ready, the loved one appears.”

 

An Autumn Beach— where “seaweed stems blow across the / flat expanses like dried umbilical cords,” and too soon to the final poem, Night Song, the final poem, a symphony of songs of the night from the unseen spirit to the owl song and dog song, to the rising of our sun and wakefulness with the “dawn song / old song.”

 

As I wrote this review, I went through the book, re-read several of the poems, and those lines I’d marked with fluorescent stickers. I realize this this a book that not only have I read it more than once, but it will become a night companion on by bedside table. Thomas A. Thomas is a poet of many voices, all of them melodious. I heartily recommend this book . 

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Meru (The Alloy Era Book 1 of 2) --by S. B. Divya

 Publisher: 47North

February 1, 2023

Paperback: 447 pages

ISBN-10: 1662505094

ISBN-13: 978-1662505096

English

cost at time of review: $14.44 ($4.99 Kindle)

5 Stars

 

I used to read a lot of hard science fiction but moved over to fantasy. This book has brought me back to the fold, so to speak. I was delighted to find it is not an adrenalin gusher, but certainly fits the page burner category in my book. The story is set 500 years or so in the future, during which time humans have been confined to Earth by their descendants, the Alloys, because of the human capacity to ruin a planet.

 

Jayanthi is the adopted human daughter of two alloys, who has sickle cell disease, and a fantastic education.  The alloys take care of the humans, there is no need for them go into space. They could not be allowed to pollute another planet, as they did to Earth and Mars. And until Jayanthi, humans weren’t too interested in going out there.

 

Once she learns of a planet, Meru, with more oxygen than is safe for most humans, but might be just perfect for her. Through a series of events, she will get to go there for a year, and if she does not pollute it, or get sick, she might get to stay. She will at least know, and perhaps open the door for other humans.

 

Her pilot-ship, named Vaha, and she develop a close relationship. And when Vaha disappears, Jaya shows initiative, and brain power no one knew she had. There are many unexpected twists and turn in this story, and not a dull moment to be had. By the time I was about 2/5ths of the way through it, I pre-ordered the sequel coming out next year sometime.

 

This is an epic space opera of fantastical dimensions. It reminds me of why I turned to science fiction so many years ago, it was hopeful. And why I gave up on it later, when so much became dystopian.

 

I heartily recommend this book! I read fiction for one purpose only—to escape my reality. I do not want downer fiction, I’m too much of a news junky. This book is my idea of a perfect escape. Thank you, S. B. Divya!

Friday, January 20, 2023

The Geography of Absence --poetry by Gayle Lauradunn

 Publisher: Mercury HeartLink

August 27, 2022

Paperback: 108 pages

ISBN-10: ‎ 1949652211

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1949652215

English

Cost at time of review: $17.00

5 Stars

 

The poem from which the title is taken is Again, the Sahara which closes with this line, “…Alone we stand / under a sea of stars shielding a golden / geography of absence.” My copy is inscribed by the author with the notation, “Not all the absences have to be filled.” I share that inscription because it is true—the absence of sound does not need to be filled with talk or music; it can be enjoyed for what it is. Fortunately for us, Ms. Lauradunn filled many spaces absent of ink, with ink in the shape of letters and words and poetry to read, think about, and savor. 

 

The poems are in four sections, “before the ebb of the sea, if we could count the years backward, without the fall I will not know the sweetness,” and “woman seeks her shape” this last section is one poem of fourteen numbered poems. The first poem in the book, A New Key, starts the reader on a journey of life. “One stroke of the key / expands the cheat / into loss / Another stroke eases / the pain into anger.”

 

We journey through alpine forests to the Sahara, to anyplace in between she takes us. Mostly, I travel into myself. I related to just about every poem in this book, Miscarriage to The Missing, from Crossed Paths with the leading line, “Seahorses sing in a silent wail” to the last poem, Duncan Canal, Alaska a single poem written in fourteen parts. “…we step / with care but the muskeg / sucks us into colorful / “ and “in this secret / forest     death breathes // “ to the last poem, number XIV with the near closing lines of, “I bend   to my reflection / and rise with bear / “

 

Lost love, lost children, lost life are all in this collection. Some absences may be filled, many are there to savor, to love, to hold onto, and respect as absences. And yet, those absences are not holes, and Lauradunn fills those absences with beauty and light.

 

A wonderful book, one to read and contemplate, to chew and savor as a rare meal of perfectly spiced foods, as often as wanted.


Other reviews of this author: 

All the Wild and Holy: A Life of Eunice Williams 1696-1785 --by Gayle Lauradunn