New Books - Local Authors, April 15

Once again, for April, for National Poetry Month, the Rensselearville Library scheduled a series of events throughout the month, including the Poem-a-Day project (coordinated by Tom Corrado) — no, not a poem-a-day to write, but one to read. But today there was a reading at the library by 4 women poets with recent books of poetry. Kim Graff, the Library Director, introduced the poets, Dawn Marar, Linda S. Miller, Katrinka Moore, & Dianne Sefcik, all poets I have seen & heard read before in such venues & at open mics.

Dawn Marar read 3 poems from her just released chapbook Efflorescence (Finishing Line Press, 2018), a book that focuses on her personal connections to the Middle East. “A Bit of Mercy” was set in Morocco, while the poem “Mayday Mayday Mayday” begins in Turkey & ends in the USA. For the reading of “Fusion Approach to Gathering” she asked Katrinka Moore to join her for this multi-voice poem.

Linda Sonia Miller’s book is briefly, briefly (Kelsey Books, 2017) from which she read a generous selection, on the themes of Time & Love, including “Disappearance,” “Preparing for the Revolution” (basketball), the childhood memory of the Bronx “Ends with a Bang,” “After the Attack,” “The Weight of Birds,” & a trio of poems about Rensselearville, “The Made World,” “Wise Neighbor,” & “Walking Up Pond Hill Rd.” She ended with a new poem, not in the book, on grief & change “Lost & Found.”

Katrinka Moore’s book is Wayfarers (Pelekinesis, 2018), includes not only poems but also black & white photos of ephemeral objects such as dried twigs, nutshells, broken pottery laid out on a dark background. The first poem she read was “Cosmogony” appropriately enough the speaker present just before & after the Big Bang; others on similar themes were “Leonids” & the postcard from the Moon “Luna Lura.” “Remnants” was a list poem of broken, torn, battered things. There was also a trio of what she called “wayfaring at home poems,” “Celebrate,” “Falling Sometimes” & “Scatter.”

Dianne Sefcik’s book Red Ochre was the most unusual of the 4 books offered here, a hand-made “pre-production Poetry Month edition” also illustrated, hers with photos of ancient petroglyphs & cave paintings — no ISBN or bar code. Her poems were centered on her native, first people roots, starting out with the title poem about the colors used in the cave paintings. “Vision Quest” was for Crazy Horse (& includes a quote from Rilke), “Hovenweep” was about visiting the national monument & hearing the sound of oil wells. The ironically titled “Pipe” is a political poem walking the trail of history. More personal was “Indigenous” (about her grandmother) & a personal encounter with “Bear II.”

I came away from this reading with a deep sense of an afternoon well-spent awashed in the words of these 4 women — & with a stack of books to keep that going.