A Fragile Light
by Lois Parker Edstrom
62 Poems ~ 85 pages
Price: $19.99
Publisher: MoonPath Press
ISBN #: 979-8-9899488-1-9
To Order: MoonPath Press
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A Fragile Light is a poetry collection devoted to the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest with its sea and coastline and spouting whales and changing seasons, coupled with the fragile light of the poet’s inner world. As her epigraph states: Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction. This creative gem places readers on the ocean’s edge feeling its sea salt spray, prompting one to dive deeper into the meaning of it all.
ADVANCE PRAISE:
Among the more quotable quotes which grace the pages of Lois Edstrom’s seminal collection, A Fragile Light, is this by Henry Havelock Ellis: “The Art of Living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” Indeed, the light truly is fragile, as we seek meaning in the world that surrounds us. However, Lois Edstrom has found her way by using the medium of poetry. Whether one chooses poems about Washington state’s breathtaking coastal scenes of water, sailing, birds, fishes, and fauna, or poems that compare “the grace of architecture“ to inspiring musical compositions … this gifted poet invites us to walk with her into life’s fragile light. “White Peony” focuses on the very nature of poetry, Teach me about poetry, she said./ I don’t understand. // Perhaps there is nothing to teach. / I can only share what comes out of silence, // how a poet tries to make something / from the rags of this world. This collection is a triumph!
–Michael Escoubas, author of Ripples Into the Light–PhotoPoetry, with artist Vandana Bajikar
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lois Parker Edstrom, is a retired nurse, is the author of two chapbooks and seven full-length collections of poetry, including Night Beyond Black, Glint, The Lesson of Plums, and The Language of Tides, published by MoonPath Press.
She has received two Hackney Literary Awards, the Outrider Press Grand Prize, the Westmoreland Award, and the Benefactor’s Award from Whidbey Island Writers Association. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, been read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac, and featured in Ted Kooser’s “American Life In Poetry.”
Edstrom’s career in nursing and poetic passion coalesced when her poetry appeared in Poems in the Waiting Room, a publication furnished to hospitals and doctors’ offices in New Zealand. Her poetry has been translated into Braille and adapted to dance by the Bellingham Repertory Dance Company.
The natural beauty of Whidbey Island, where she lives with her husband, inspires much of her work.
FROM THE BOOK:
A Fragile Light
by Lois Parker Edstrom
Light comes softly through the morning mist,
splinters as it settles on dewdrops that dangle
from the web. Pulled taut and lovely, the web
stretches above a mass of leaves–
green, amethyst, and pale rose.
Silken lines hold fast to spindly branches,
all anchored to the center geometric
rings of connection, so delicate, so strong
like this catch-all we call life,
how we gather what we think we need
for substance, how prisms of light flash
and fade on the fragile structures we create,
how we tremble through storms
holding on, stronger than seems possible.
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