Home Delivery
New and Selected Poems
by
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Clay The jar rests on a shelf beyond reach of fingers See how I shrink Yet what lingers is real the high springing of a finch a leaf curling from the oak a pen unfurling words of a poet Clay will not keep Perhaps memory will lend weight to the soul guard against endings
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About the Book
In her latest collection of poetry, entitled Home Delivery, Lou Barrett returns to familiar themes—love, loss, the beauty and the terror of the world, the search for lost time. Her resilient spirit demands that, at age ninety-one, she continue to write a “script of amazement and indignation” lest “the unfinished self…live in exile.” Time is a major concern in this volume. The poet writes of “how reverently one should consume all of Time’s hoard.” The poems provide a kind of portal into cherished memories, into lost time. Her language, luminous and unique, awakens our senses. We see through the poet’s eyes, as she walks the beach, “lovers in blankets like strewn sarcophagi.” We see a young Israeli guard shift a gun to her left hand “with the certainty of a mother easing an infant.” Ms. Barrett’s view of the world is original. Her words enable us to see with fresh eyes. We are strengthened by her perceptions of how to live in a world marked by change, characterized by “rapture and wounds.” For Lou Barrett, the “cardinal sin” is despair; the antidote to despair is writing. The poet offers beauty and wisdom to her readers “like letters/promissory notes/ for home delivery/in your mailbox.” Lisbeth Comm, Muse magazine Director of Secondary Education, Westport Connecticut Public Schools
About the Author
Lou Barrett has enjoyed a long, rewarding career as a teacher of literature and writing. Ms. Barrett was honored at Wesleyan University by the Connecticut Council of Teachers of English. She is a recipient of Connecticut Poetry Society’s Winchell Award. Her poetry appeared in Midstream, Connecticut River Review Voices Israel, Muse, and The National English Journal. Ms. Barrett’s series on Shakespeare is currently used by teachers and students Other publications include Clotheslines: a Chapbook and poetry collections: Homefronts; Connecting Flights; Doors, Gates and Portals; and Canopies.