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Edge of the Echo
by KB Ballentine
98 Poems ~ 128 pages
Price: $18.00
Publisher: Iris Press
ISBN: 978-1604542646
To Order: https://irisbooks.com/
ABOUT THE BOOK:
KB Ballentine gathers poems into four sections that honor the ancient rhythms of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. Edge of the Echo explores these elements and how they weave through the human experience and, though we are encompassed by them every day, we don't fully understand them. At the threshold of each season there is a mystic balance between the stones and the stars. The early Celts recognized what we have forgotten: the seasons of the year reflect an invisible geography between nature and the human soul. In this world full of upheaval and clatter, we need more than ever the tenacity of nature-its magic and variety that mends our weariness. This collection of poems invites the elements to speak to us once again.
ADVANCE PRAISE:
Edge of the Echo by KB Ballentine is a mystical, lyrical treasure of poetry filled with detailed wonders of nature. These words must capture our attention, or we betray our existence, life's gift. The collection is divided into four sections: Air, Earth, Fire and Water–Elements of Astrology, all dependent on each other to give us our little planet. The poems scattered with dreams have scattered mine as well. Family immigrants from Ireland, often left in boats, cold and hungry, praying to be taken in-a darkness our world continues to imitate. During a visit to Birkenau her poems grieve for those lost during the Holocaust, numbers scarred on my grandmother's arm–a time to whisper together the Kaddish. These poems experiment with different forms, are rich with images of the natural world in all seasons and resonate with deep allusions to classical mythology. Many of them focus on Celtic countries–Scotland, Ireland, England, as well as home–all of Ballentine's landscapes are alive with movement that captures the spirit of Creation.
–Bill Brown, author of The Headless Angel
Now and then poets come into our lives where words become art, sentences become canvases, poems become masterpieces. KB Ballentine's pages draw the reader into her retrospective of life, and Edge of the Echo will hang in the gallery of our minds where images turn into pictures that have developed over a lifetime. There are poets compared to Clementine Hunter, Norman Rockwell, Van Gogh: KB is the Picasso of words stretched on a paper canvas that will stand the test of time.
–Margaret Britton Vaughn, Tennessee Poet Laureate
In KB Ballentine's new collection, Edge of the Echo, she reminds us that the earth supports us in beautiful and bountiful ways. These are thoughtful, layered poems of gratitude and reverence. Ballentine truly has a gift for painting with words. Every line evokes beauty in a stunning array of color. With a deep connection to nature, every aspect of life is filtered through the poet's lens of tenderness and compassion. These offerings bring us hope for the weary heart. Ballentine beckons us to "believe in everything again," and we do. A stunning collection to be celebrated and savored.
–Cristina M. R. Norcross, Founding Editor of Blue Heron Review, author of Beauty in the Broken Places
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
KB Ballentine received her MFA in Poetry from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA. She has participated in writing academies in the United States and Europe and holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in English.
She currently teaches high school English, theatre, and creative writing and adjuncts for a local college. She also conducts writing workshops throughout the United States.
Author of six collections of poetry and published in numerous literary journals and anthologies, KB was a finalist for the 2006 Joy Harjo Poetry Award and a 2007 finalist for the Ruth Stone Prize in Poetry. KB received the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Fund Award in 2006 and 2007. She was an Opera Omaha finalist in 2008, a 2014 finalist for the Ron Rash Poetry Award, and received the Libba Moore Gray Poetry Prize in 2016.
FROM THE BOOK:
What Was Told
–after Rumi
by KB Ballentine
to the cornflower sky as clouds scribbled by?
What was told to the bluebird as it tousled
feathers in a lazy puddle? Does the perfume
in a hawthorn stem sing to a green spring day?
Does the oak swaying toward the maple whisper
a welcome, a husky how are you today?
What was told to the twilight as the firefly sparked
or to the cosmos as a bee kissed its silky center?
What was told the morning you were born,
after the pain and the sweat and the tears–
that my heart could shatter and still be made whole.
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