An Everyday Thing
An Everyday Thing
Named one of the Best Indie Books of 2018 by Kirkus Reviews
“Without poetry there would be no history,” wrote Paz, and Nancy Richardson superb book is proof enough. Anchored in the tragic events of Kent State, but radiating out to examine other forms of violence and relationships, Nancy Richardson’s poems speak eloquently and superbly to our own times. To do this she counterpoints the “everyday” whether that be an apt observation or a family event and its unique quality. So for instance, in “Queen Anne’s Lace,” set suddenly in the midst all this, she understands its “Delicacy / in the midst of loss,” but does not stop there, rather moves on to what good poetry should do—heal—as she ends it by noting “these petals of silk, this snowflake of stars,” an image that lets us transcend but not avoid the real world she describes. This is an important book, deftly written, a must read.
Richard Jackson
Distinguished Professor of English, UTNAA, and Professor of Writing, Vermont College of Fine Arts
“ A dazzling work by a deeply intuitive writer.”
Kirkus Reviews
Cover art by John Anderson