"It is so sad to see the summer come to an end
when everything is in full bloom and the
air is so fresh clean."
 |
Lighthouse: Faith, Hope and Love by Rosemary Delconte Grogan Trafford Publishing
book review by Omar Figueras
As the title suggests, Rosemary Delconte Grogan's poetry collection, Lighthouse: Faith, Hope and Love, holds various allusions to stormy coasts, jagged rocks, shorelines, and lighthouses, both physical and metaphoric. The inspiration for these poems were the memories of times with her husband intermingled with present day occurrences, and a litany of anniversaries of last moments with her spouse before his death, all braided together along with life-changing events and everyday household occurrences.
Grogan's collection is a romantic lament, an elegy. It is a lyrical widow’s walk along an imaginary, rickety catwalk bordering the roof of the couple’s spiritual home; not a physical one, but a divine house, a metaphysical one constructed with words, oaths, tolerance, and above all, love.
The style and arrangement of the poems are diverse, running the gamut from simple rhyme schemes and epistolary insertions, to experimental work and free verse. Although written after his death, in "How Do I Describe My Husband," the author speaks of him in the present tense, alive, hopeful, positive, and heartfelt. Furthermore, to demonstrate the full spectrum of human emotions a widow feels, in other poems the author shows the frightened widow terrified for herself, knowing her husband will soon pass away, and she will be alone.
As the title states, much of the work is themed around the Cape Cod seaside where the family would often vacation. This set of poems work as though the author had created a capsule of an amalgamation of time when she and her family were with her husband. Her reliving their moments by the ocean, taking into account all that has passed between them, is how it is clearly possible that a piece of their souls will always be together by the sea.