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9/24/2016 BIRD LIGHtBIRD LIGHT by Elizabeth Cohen
Rainer Maria Rilke, nearly 100 years ago ended the first stanza of the Duino Elegies–First Elegy, with this verse. "Throw the emptiness out of your arms to add to the spaces we breathe; maybe the birds will feel the expansion of air, in more intimate flight.”
In BIRD LIGHT, Elizabeth Cohen captures this “more intimate flight” and creates a new poetic language of healing and transformation. She deftly weaves together images of birds and nature that parallel life–changing events. “It happened to me. The Robin Redbreast / the mud swallows on the porch / egrets in the field…the polysyllabic jays / the velvet scrimshaw of my nights etched with bats / all replaced by infinite changeable things / Everyone, everywhere, sleeping with television.” In an elegant and earthly voice, she speaks to us of hidden loss and sorrow, softened by joy and love and living a vibrant life. We are drawn into the conversation in delightful ways, and renewed by a promise healing. ~ Ron Starbuck
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Publisher's BlogRON STARBUCK is the Publisher/CEO/Executive Editor of Saint Julian Press, Inc., in Houston, Texas; a poet and writer, an Episcopalian, and author of There Is Something About Being An Episcopalian, When Angels Are Born, Wheels Turning Inward, and most recently A Pilgrimage of Churches, four rich collections of poetry, following a poet’s mythic and spiritual journey that crosses easily onto the paths of many contemplative traditions. Archives
August 2024
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