The Bird in the Stillness: Forest Devotionals

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The Porcupine's Quill, Mar 31, 2016 - Poetry - 96 pages
The Green Man’s forest is full of spirits. From the loftiest cedar to the lowliest centipede, all life falls under the dominion and protection of He Who Is Verdant. Circumspect eyes track defiant interlopers while decaying tree stumps nurse saplings with maternal tenderness. Tree branches entwine sensuously, and leaves rustle like the intimate whispers of lovers. A bird in the stillness waits, talons sharp, preparing to make his kill.

Joe Rosenblatt’s latest collection of poems, The Bird in the Stillness, presents a forest in chiaroscuro—a delicate ecosystem held in tenuous balance by cycles of life and death, light and darkness, companionship and solitude. It provides a rich buffet of physical, spiritual and artistic nourishment for any pilgrim who cares to walk the woodland path ... and acknowledge that his warranty on breathing might be nearing its expiry.

 

Contents

Mother Nature Was Far Sexier
9
Mycelium Motels
13
A Paris Kitchen
14
A Naked Waving Hand
15
Choristers
16
Theyve Eaten All the Leaves
17
The Gruesome Self
19
A Noiseless Meal
20
The Entrance
34
His Majesty Is Afraid
35
Gilding the Sadness
37
Greener
38
A Painted Lady
39
The Motility of a Millipede
42
If One Regenerates a Limb
43
An Obesity of Gloom
44

A Lullaby
21
An Infant Mewl
22
My Face
23
Nibbled Digitals
26
Osmosis
27
An Invasive Alien
28
Sharing His Prickly Crown of Thorns
29
His Majesty Is Waiting
30
Mining for Bugs
31
Motes of Night
33
Growl
45
Kisses
46
The Loving Mom He Never Knew
47
Outing
49
Alabaster Moons
50
A Mossy Gruel
51
The Wild
52
Want
53
Copyright

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About the author (2016)

 

Joe Rosenblatt is an accomplished author and artist who, over the course of a five-decade career has produced over twenty books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and visual art. He was the second poet to be published by Coach House Press, which released The LSD Leacock in 1966. Rosenblatt has since received several major awards, including the Governor General’s Award for his poetry collection Top Soil, as well as the B.C. Book Prize for Poetry Hotel in 1986. He lives in Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island.

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