Poetry Friday Welcome

Welcome to Poetry Friday, take a moment to enjoy the beauty that is shared.

When the seasons shift, even the subtle beginning, the scent of a promised change, I feel something stir inside me. Hopefulness? Gratitude? Openness? Whatever it is, it's welcome.

                                                                                                   Kristin Armstrong

         Is it okay with you if I speak of autumn, here before Labor Day? I hope so, because I want to highlight a recent book by Barbara Crooker that I've been reading, and then reading again. Her poems  make me pause, and work harder when I write. Her words please me and I hope will please you, too. In an interview here, Barbara says that when putting a book together, "first I write the poems.  Then I see which of them are book-worthy, and then I look for themes.  Then I try to find a title that best describes what’s going on in the book.  I think arrangement is important, and I spend a lot of time on this.  Robert Frost said if there are 26 poems in a book, then the 27th poem is the book itself, and that’s what I’m aiming for. . . ."








          Small Rain, out last spring, circles the year from January to December. As I read, I've marked a few lines here and there that will give a flavor of the season, but certainly I hope if you haven't already, that you will find or purchase the book and read it all. 

       from After The Holidays - "The thin tinsel of the new moon/hangs in the dark sky, a comma/dividing the sentence between/ last year's troubles and this year's/ hopes."

       from Suddenly - "the fields on the hills/have shifted into green, full speed ahead,"

       from Zen - "My spine fits this adirondack chair like clay/poured in a mold. I want to be neither here,/nor there. Birds hum me to sleep."

       and for us, now, waiting. . . from Small Stanzas In Autumn - 

"We tilt at the balancing point, between summer's too much/and winter's not-enough; the sumac flickers red in the hedgerow."

       You can find some of Barbara Crooker's poems and other interviews online here. 

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