If On Winter’s Night

On this frosty night,
had it not been for the moon’s
beckoning allure,
would my welcoming fireplace
be as snug if never left

At first glance, a beast
that’s left no tracks in the snow,
but no, with the clouds’
parting, wearing a fresh shawl,
it’s our Buddha in repose

A loud crack disturbs
sleep, mistaken for gunfire,
in the stillness that
follows, I wait for sirens’
response to ice hardening

Lucy At The Sea / Elizabeth Strout

One knew during the COVID pandemic that art would soon imitate life, and that numerous novels would soon document the isolation, uncertainties, anxieties, and cultural shocks wrought by the epidemic.  Lucy By The Sea is one such book, and is sure to be one that resonates with readers.  Its narrator, Lucy Barton, a well-known author, is convinced by her ex-husband in the earliest days of the pandemic to leave her Manhattan apartment and move with him to Maine to escape the illnesses and deaths he is sure will soon result.  The story is her account of the pandemic’s first year when the country went into lockdown and the need to wear face masks soon became a contentious issue. 

Lucy Barton is a mother of two grown daughters and a recent widow.  In captivating prose, the story presents her pendulum-like emotional swings as she slowly adapts to loss and change.  During the months that follow, despite panic attacks and forebodings, she grudging copes with the separation from family and friends, and comes to appreciate the small joys that daily life presents.  The story unfolds in a diary-like fashion, documenting her interactions with the new community she finds herself in, and the growing realization that the pandemic is not only a health issue, but a political one as well.

This is the fourth novel from Elizabeth Strout that features Lucy Barton as a protagonist.  Also featured are a number of other characters who have made appearances in Strout’s other works.  She is a gifted author, the winner of a Pulitzer Prize, and here has done a marvelous job of capturing the emotional coaster ride we all went through during the pandemic.  Published in late 2022, the novel is not the first or last on the topic, but it has set a high standard for others to follow.

A Widow’s Lament

How deep my roots go
holding me upright against
the battering winds
of change, in a landscape no
longer recognizable

The loneliness of
old age was presumed, but not
that outside my door,
so near, life’s cacophony
would be an unwelcome guest

Unbidden, tears no
longer require the prompting
of regret or joy—
a dam finally pin pricked,
an epoch’s well-spring released

Built From The Fire : The Epic Story Of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, America’s Black Wall Street / Victor Luckerson

In Built From The Fire, published in 2023, Tulsa-based journalist Victor Luckerson describes the history of the predominantly black Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from its earliest days up to the present.  Haunting the entire book is the 1921 massacre in which most of the District was burned to the ground by white members of surrounding communities.  Even though the exact number of Blacks killed is uncertain, estimates range from 75 to 300 people, including women and children.  At the time of this event, it was a thriving community with its own theaters, hotels, restaurants, and countless other businesses.  In the aftermath of the massacre, its citizens have battled to keep the area alive and thriving despite decades of discriminatory practices on the part of the Tulsa city government and the lack of reparations to aid in recovery efforts.

While Luckerson does provide a detailed (and horrifying) account of the massacre, the scope of his book is much broader.  Highlighted are several prominent Greenwood families, tracing the roles they played in helping to create the District in the decade before the massacre, and their determination to rebuild it in the century to follow.  He provides chilling evidence of how the white dominated city government and its police force collaborated in the event itself and then spent decades denying the extent of damages and deaths.    

Built From The Fire is a welcome account of a shameful chapter in our country’s history, and of its lasting effect not only on the survivors of the massacre but on their descendants as well.  Ironically, and sadly, in numerous Republican dominated states like Oklahoma, teaching the history that Luckerson presents here is now illegal since it is considered inappropriate material for use in secondary education.  Ultimately, this narrative of the Greenwood District profiles a community’s resiliency against all odds.

Already Home (Tanka)

All those wasted years
I misspent in the pursuit
of some place other
than here, never aware that
my heart was already home

In October Twilight

Whether there is a difference between
delusion and denial,
neither of us bothers to consider:
I, still trying to read
on the porch in early October twilight;
The spider, laboring to
spin a perfect web from sticky thread.
With a hard frost in
the forecast, it makes no sense to
remain entangled in
the feeble promise of a departing sun.
Nonetheless, I leave
the tome outside on the porch table,
trusting in the belief of
another all-hallowed summer day.
Sure of its handiwork,
the spider secures a dangling end
against the wind.
Whether there is a difference between
hope and defiance,
the marriage of the two still persists.

Blacktop Wasteland / S. A. Crosby

Beauregard “Bug” Montage is a Black man with a criminal past, having gained a reputation of being one of the best “get away” drivers in the business.  But after doing jail time for a heist that went south, he has worked hard to turn his life around.  Now a father of three and a devoted husband, he is a skilled mechanic running his own business.  Still, he is having difficulty making ends meet as he deals with another shop that has been able to lure customers away at a time when he is in desperate need of money to stay afloat.  Reluctantly, when approached to serve as the driver for a jewelry shop robbery, he accepts.  If all goes well, his financial situation will be solved, and he will be able to go straight for good.  Of course, this being a crime novel, things go wrong from the start, and he finds his family threatened when a criminal syndicate comes looking for the stolen diamonds.

There is nothing truly unique in this book’s plot.  Its saving grace are the racial elements that Crosby weaves into the story.  Set in southeastern Virginia, he highlights the difficulty a Black man faces in a region where racism is a daily fact of life.  The novel is gritty, action packed and filled with more than its fair share of violence as the bodies pile up.  What struck me was that, despite the murders and all the gun fights taking place, the police rarely show up to investigate.  For devotees of the genre, even if soon forgotten, it will probably be an engaging read.  Most other readers, however, will find its boilerplate plot not worth investigating.

Moon Tea

Grandma spoke
with reverence of her secret recipe
for moon tea.
When asked how it was prepared
we were told,
after steeping awhile in a busy life,
improvisation of
the routine would perfect the brew.
And sure enough,
I now know why she was the first
of us to awaken.
With or without the moon present,
awaiting the sky
to lighten and displace the quiet,
experience has
taught me appreciate every sip.
Before the clock
is made aware of the demands
of responsibility,
other than hot water and leaves,
this stained cup
requires no special ingredients.
Like her, it is
the timelessness of the moment
I am savoring.