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The way I choose to thread
The textures of the moments of my plight"
A poet writes through her adult phases: family life, divorce, advocacy, and mysticism. Like the seasons, the poems present many moods. The initial group (from the late 1970s) plays with humorous images, such as cars as status symbols, plumbing, and verbosity. Later poems display anger and disappointment toward parents, dads who don't show love, and kids going off to college. The haiku section celebrates wildness that feeds the soul in plants, the cosmos, and birds, as well as contemplative life. Long tribute poems to friends and family members add ballad-like stories to the panorama of styles. The final "Mystic Law" set of poems conjures ancient myths and symbols (gods and goddesses and the phoenix) as sources of new energy. Taken together, the poems present a lush portrait composed of vibrant snapshots of an enterprising woman.
Each page's illustrated frame honors each poem's singular craft. Like "[o]ne exquisite moment of perfection / An artful blend of focus and intent / Buds with joy and harvests long content," each poem refracts an integrated whole. The poems' images and messages agree, resulting in a convincing trust. Expressing a believable spectrum of emotion from pain to love to cries for justice, they also call forth new feelings. An injunctive attitude develops over the course of the book. The hurt and longing captured in chaotic street scenes and tragic home life scenes demand action. The ending poems, grounded in meditative practice, emphasize the beauty of age that, along with wrinkles, renewed energy sprouts. Poems written for Sophia Women depict women transforming themselves and others in ritual and social action. The selections paint robust and crafted pictures that call for and inspire change in their candor and sparing care for words.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review