Months in the making (what book isn’t?), The Widows’ Handbook now has its own blog. I have been privileged to have one of my poems (“Apart”) included in this anthology, along with poems from the known and the not-so-known.
One of the exciting elements about submitting one’s work to an anthology is not having a clue about who else will be included and I had never expected to share space with such respected poets as Mary Oliver, Tess Gallagher, and Maxine Kumin, who sadly died on Feb. 6 of this year.
Equally honoring is sharing space with poets whose names have been unknown to me until now. As I read through this amazing collection, I was stunned by the quality of work I encountered. I read works by Elizabeth Page Roberts (“the sun holds no sway”) or Marean Jordan (“Farewell to Sorrow”), or Pat Parnell (“Memory Foam”) and I resonate to the words.
That’s what poetry does—reaches the emotional self of the reader and resonates as the poet and the reader share an experience and the words mingle with the emotions of both to create a sense of shared life. Nothing could be more communicative or important than the connections between the poet and reader through the written word.