{"id":485,"date":"2011-08-09T11:42:58","date_gmt":"2011-08-09T18:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=485"},"modified":"2011-08-09T12:59:17","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T19:59:17","slug":"finding-what-is-in-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/?p=485","title":{"rendered":"Finding what is in poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to a new yet familiar reviewer, Kathryn Milam. Years ago, when I edited the book-review page for the Winston-Salem Journal<\/em>, I was always pleased when Kathryn contributed a review. A writer herself, she\u2019s an insightful reader. Then she moved away, and, later, the Journal<\/em> discontinued its locally written\/edited adult book-review page.<\/p>\n

Now Kathryn\u2019s back, not that she needs to be in Winston-Salem to contribute to a book blog. But we\u2019ve reconnected, and here\u2019s her debut review for Briar Patch Books.<\/p>\n

By Kathryn Milam.<\/p>\n

IN THE PALMS OF ANGELS. By Terri Kirby Erickson. Press 53.107 pages.\u00a0$14.95<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>An insidious fear infuses many Americans. It has nothing to do with the economy or health care, education or politics, war or terrorists. This fear was instigated in grade school, propagated in high school and nurtured as we grew older. Its culmination has deprived us of a balm capable of soothing all other fears.<\/p>\n

This fear is metrophobia, the fear of poetry.<\/p>\n

Now in maturity, many of us are looking for deeper insight and have turned to poems despite our fear.<\/p>\n

The great poet William Carlos Williams wrote, \u201cIt is difficult\/ to get the news from poems\/ yet men die miserably every day\/ for lack\/ of what is found there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In our search for what is found there, we stumble upon Terri Kirby Erickson, a North \u00a0Carolina writer, whose poems offer understanding and answers, both literal and metaphorical. Her gentle work can quell our metrophobia.<\/p>\n

Erickson\u02bcs new collection, In the Palms of Angels<\/em>, chronicles the fundamentals and rituals of everyday life and everyday people with clarity, perception and attention to detail. Her subject matter ranges from biscuit-making to breast cancer, cling peaches to suicide, boogie-woogie to aging parents. What makes each poem notable, whether serious or light-hearted, is Erickson\u02bcs ability to convey the essential meaning of commonplace events.<\/p>\n

Take the poem \u201cSponge Bath.\u201d A daughter bathes her elderly mother, a mundane\u00a0routine repeated throughout the world each day. But Erickson elevates that experience from ordinary to extraordinary in a few phrases:<\/p>\n

my mother\u2019s hand<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>becomes a cloud, and every bruise, a rain-<\/em><\/p>\n

drenched flower. <\/em><\/p>\n

She acknowledges the ugly, thin-skinned bruising of the old woman\u2019s arm, yet finds beauty in the signs of aging and impending death. She recognizes the protective presence of the daughter\u2019s hands, symbolic of the care between generations.<\/p>\n

Story poems are some of my favorites, especially if they are humorous with a surprising twist. \u201cDenise and Merle\u201d is one such poem.<\/p>\n

Two women work at the corner pharmacy. One night, when they are on duty alone, the store is robbed. Erickson describes these characters and the situation in a few lines and leads her readers to an unexpected end. Here is a snippet:<\/p>\n

When<\/em><\/p>\n

Merle heard the lock turn in the back room and saw <\/em><\/p>\n

the robber\u02bcs panicked expression, she was shocked <\/em><\/p>\n

beyond belief that her own flesh and blood would <\/em><\/p>\n

abandon her to the mercy of an armed bandit ready <\/em><\/p>\n

to snap at any minute and riddle the place with bullets. <\/em><\/p>\n

Can\u02bct you picture Merle, astonished as she faces down the man with the gun?<\/p>\n

I could continue with lists of remarkable poems and vivid images, but why don\u02bct you see for yourself? Whether you approach this book with trepidation or read poetry daily, you\u02bcll want to take \u201cIn the Palms of Angels\u201d to your front porch swing and spend a few summer afternoons luxuriating in Erickson\u02bcs words.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, one cold day next winter, her images will return to you in warm and wonderful ways. You\u02bcll pull the book from your shelf and read with delight. Then you\u02bcll know you\u02bcve begun to unravel the meaning of William Carlos Williams\u02bc observation. And you\u02bcll realize, once and for all, that you\u02bcve conquered any vestiges of metrophobia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Terri Kirby Erickson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to a new yet familiar reviewer, Kathryn Milam. Years ago, when I edited the book-review page for the Winston-Salem Journal, I was always pleased when Kathryn contributed a review. A writer herself, she\u2019s an insightful reader. Then she moved away, and, later, the Journal discontinued its locally written\/edited adult book-review page. Now Kathryn\u2019s back, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[131,129,825,130],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-kathryn-milam","tag-north-carolina-writers","tag-poetry","tag-terri-kirby-erickson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lindabrinson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}