The Aging Poems

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Praise for The Aging Poems

“There is magic in the number seven whether it be its inclination to luck or seven deadly sins or seven colors in the rainbow, seven liberal arts or kings or continents or sages. When seven poets join to write about aging, its positives or perils, they create a body of writing akin to this magic.  All accomplished poets, these seven women show readers, that even though inevitable, growing older is not a time for fear but for being bold, confident, even audacious.  “… some invisible faith/…/baptizes your almost doubting/self/and you get up/take another step…/and begin again.” This book will delight you with its joy of language, its delicious imagery, and its collective wisdom.” —Karla Huston, Wisconsin Poet Laureate 2017—2018

“Age,” as writer Anna Quindlen once crisply put it, “is now.” A perceptive quote, to be sure, and gracefully confirmed by the seven poets who share their insights in this rare overview of the inexorable passage of time. Sylvia Cavanaugh begins by deftly comparing time to a “music like lift-off / like wind / flying”, while Nancy Durdin verifies the sense of having “a wind at my back / like the palm of a hand / pushing me forward.” Georgia Ressmeyer’s firm pledge that she is not yet ready to “fall softly into winter’s nest” is underscored by Maryann Hurtt’s promise to “take another step / breathe deep / and begin again.” The lives of flowers (even briefer than our own) almost inevitably infuse several of these poems: Dawn Hogue delicately resurrects an Easter lily, “white as an eagle feather, white as sharp light” for a deceased friend; and Marilyn Windau tells us why she favors perennial garden flowers over annuals: “I prefer,” she writes, “to come back year after year”—even while Lisa Vihos wryly observes that “we come into this world / and then go out the same, / incontinent.” The collection is a treat for the senses, and a compelling meditation on our short earthly visit. —Marilyn Taylor, Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Emerita