Mountains, Myths & Memories: a poetry anthology featuring poems by 8 Northern Colorado writers - Softcover

Wolfe, Lorrie; Orman, Caroline Nadelhoffer; Van Gerven, Claudia; Hoffman, Jeff; Holladay, Gordon; Maslowski, Pat; Kobar, Shirley; Bergstrom, Rosemary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0999212001 ISBN 13: 9780999212004

Publisher: Wolfe Unlimited, 2017

Synopsis

Mountains, Myths & Memories is a poetry anthology featuring the work of eight northern Colorado poets. Their work is shaped by, and reflective of, northern Colorado, with its mountains, rivers, and wide-open plains both wild and tilled. But their writing transcends place and taps into the universal experience of people interacting with nature, family, aging, immigration, crossing cultures, and memory in the unique views and language of each writer. Poet Bill Tremblay writes, in his forward to this book, “The pleasure of reading the work of local poets is to experience how they re-invent the language: speaking of childhood games, one poet writes of “palms jaxed with grabbing.” [Claudia Van Gerven] My spell check underlines jaxed, and well it should because it’s a genuine neologism. And then there are simply the lovely thoughts given as image, “wind pushing over grass/as loving hand.” [Jeff Hoffman] Or clever wit regarding a replacement of politicians with dogs, e.g. “a chancellor with a/rotweiler named Angela ... There’s room for creativity in the United States ...” Indeed. Or nods in the direction of poets who’ve come before, but with a contemporary twist as in “how do I luv thee let me text the ways.” [Shirley Kobar] The local imagination can bring the global horror of war and the terror of refugees fleeing for their lives in a few simple words: “hurry hurry/help her please/oh god/what can we do/get killed/or get in this boat/and drown.” [Caroline N. Orman] So many American families were once immigrants who suffered the trauma of displacement in place and time: “Holding onto the past/holding out for the future/makes the present tense.” [Lorrie Wolfe] And still more turn to the consolations of dawn: “Sky, a gelatinous gray blue/Mountain, aurora gold ... maybe/Earth is not yet doomed/In our lifetime.” [Pat Maslowski] Or observe the curiosities of nature, a meeting between groundhog and prairie dog [Gordon Holladay] that ends with an eagle getting a meal. Wit, longing, confusion, tragedy, the tensions and triggering moments of everyday life, the satisfactions of home and family, Mountains, Myths & Memories is a testament to the deep experience of today’s Americans.”

About this title

About the Author

Lorrie Wolfe is the editor and one of the eight contributors to this book. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, including Earth’s Daughters, Pilgrimage, and Pooled Ink. She has been a finalist in the Writer’s Studio Literary Contest, has received awards from Columbine Poets, the Poetry Society of Colorado and the Poetry Society of Oklahoma. In 2014, Lorrie was named Poet of the Year at the Ziggies Poetry Fest in Denver. Other contributors to the anthology include Claudia Van Gerven, Shirley Kobar, Jeff Hoffman, Caroline Nadelhoffer Orman, Pat Maslowski, Gordon Holladay and Rosemary Bergstrom. They represent a varied assembly of talents: two are photographers, two are fine artists, three are retired teachers and professors, one owned a music store and one taught music for decades. In addition, they include a technical writer, a former social worker, a groundskeeper, a bird-lover, and a nurse. Among them, they have published nearly two dozen books and chapbooks and have appeared in numerous journals, anthologies and magazines. They have been meeting monthly for twelve years, working on crafting their best poetry not only for their own enjoyment, but for yours as well.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wolfe Unlimited
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0999212001
• ISBN 13: 9780999212004
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 146
• Editor: Wolfe Lorrie