Garden Tools- a Holiday Book Suggestion

Poetry isn't something I usually read.  I've enjoyed "When the Plow Cuts" by Katie Andraski, a former professor at Northern Illinois University, as well as the works of Thomas Merton and Denise Levertov. Otherwise, I'll usually "pass go, do not collect $200".  

Then I got

• Garden Tools by David W. Berner

The author uses nature as a vehicle to explore attachment, history, and memory, much of which resonates with me now that I'm older.

I absolutely loved the earlier work of this award-winning former Writer in Residence at the Hemingway Birthplace House in Chicago.  I got hooked when David asked to be a beta reader for  "Walks with Sam", written not long after the Book of Barkley was published.  

And I kept reading.  

If you are having trouble thinking of a gift for that person in your life who already "has everything", give the gift of words. Newly published, Garden Tools is available through Finishing Line Press or on Amazon (click on the book name in green above for a link) 

Just a couple of snippets of longer poems that stuck with me.

Desert Prayer

If I were to swallow the earth

I would taste cinnamon

in the desert's red rocks

where the light catches

the edges of the heart,

and the table is set for one.

-----------------------------

-----------------------------

Dog Dreams

---------

---------

Instinct has her considering the chase of an ancient wolf, 

but her hopes are only dreams

and her desires only foolish.

She believes in herself, but I know better,

and the squirrels know too, laughing their way

back to the tree

And in the relentless glare of a low sun, 

promises are lost in the distant fire, 

burning the edges of imaginings,

holding yearnings beyond a desperate reach.

Pick up a "hold in your hand and savor" copy of this for yourself or as a gift; you will be thankful you did. - LBJ