I’m thrilled to announce that my first collection I lost summer somewhere has just been published and is available at Amazon and through Kelsay Books.
Here are some of the great things my fellow poets have said about it.
“Melancholy, exuberance, nostalgia, fulfillment, contentment, longing – Sarah Russell hits all the spots, and there isn’t one poem where a woman won’t be able to identify in some way. She’s singing all our songs, putting into magical words things we felt so often but never knew how to tell. Deep sadness matched by laughter, gentleness, love and a sense of adventure. It was a privilege being there with her, living what she remembers, identifying with every line.”
Rose Mary Boehm, author of Tangents, From the Ruhr to Somewhere Near Dresden,and Peru Blues
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“Sarah Russell brings us into her world, a world of “dream-filled summer nights,” where “leaves are October butterflies.” Russell’s poems sing the important moments of life. It’s a song that stays in your mind, drawing you back to the poems again and again.”
Nina Bennett, author of Mix Tape and The House of Yearning
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“Sarah Russell’s poems don’t have to crawl under your skin – they’ve always been there. If you haven’t known a suicide, or gone through divorce or cancer, you’ve known the fear. If you’ve never had a love you’d marry twice if you had three lives, you’ve felt the longing. Russell may have lost summer somewhere, but she has found what makes us human.”
Alarie Tennille, author of Waking on the Moon and Running Counterclockwise
That’s beautiful
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Thanks, Beth.
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YES! This is how I felt, the sunset I described in my poem – that this must be what heaven looks like. Your photo is SPECTACULAR. I stalk the sunset which is elusive at this stage of my life, when I dont have the eyesight to drive to where I can see it and have to wait for someone to take me which rarely happens. I so want to take more photos like yours.
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Thanks. Sherry. When I read your poem I saw the similarities. Alas, the photo isn’t mine, though it does look like the sunset that inspired the poem. It is from a “free use” site called Pexel.
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AH, just beautiful — every image and every feeling turning into a profound reverie. Loved the beginning: “cantaloupe electric, backlit in neon”. An inspired verse.
-HA
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Thank you, HA. I found it hard to capture the colors in words. This is as close as I could come.
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p.s. i’m not very ‘god-is’ either. i kind of see nature as a kind of magic provided for us by the universe.
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Yes. That’s what I feel too. But the most spiritual/philosophical I get is when I’m in nature.
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Lovely poem with heavenly lines.
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Thanks very much, Vicki.
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Nature does make us prayerful, isn’t it? Your lines captivated vast beauty magnificently.
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Thank you, Sumana.
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That resonates.. something wonderful must point to a larger truth.. or maybe the not knowing just makes it larger or wonderful! Lovely, Sarah.
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What a beautiful interpretation, Rajani. Thank you. Sometimes you need another poet to help you figure out what you meant!
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Lovely voice in this piece Sarah, both aspiring ‘perhaps I should believe’ and then in the next breath a resigned realist ‘… Enough ecstasy / enough God ‘
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Thanks, Peter. Yes, that realism always creeps in to my early Sunday School beliefs. It doesn’t ruin sunsets for me though!
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Loved the images, the rhythm…makes me wish I had a daily poem playlist 🙂
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Thanks so much. For your daily poem playlist, try https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/workshop-0?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Poem-a-Day%20%20September%2013%202018&utm_content=Poem-a-Day%20%20September%2013%202018+CID_673981b24acf635fb14f613689fae1d7&utm_source=Email%20from%20Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Workshop. You can sign up on the website, and they’ll send one every morning. I love that site.
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Right there with you on this, Sarah. I love,
“clouds turned cantaloupe electric,
backlit in neon.”
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Thanks a lot, Sara.
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Spectacular imagery and image, Sarah! I especially love:
‘clouds turned cantaloupe electric,
backlit in neon’
and.
‘a transcendent finale,
coda of the day’.
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Thanks, Kim!
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BEAUTIFUL!
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Thanks, Dodie.
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