Letting the Psyche Guide the Itinerary
There’s a lot of traveling in Packing a Suitcase for the Afterlife, my poetry collection being published by Finishing Line Press, whether it’s back-and-forth between the past and the present, between growing up on the coast of Massachusetts and writing poetry in my kitchen in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, or between the rich insights of dreams and the wakeful living of everyday life.
It’s the dream that you’ll tell during breakfast / when the steam of tea rises like smoke / and kitchen dishes clink like wheels on a track / on their way to a new unknown …
The 34 poem collection reads like a memoir of an inner-life journey, one that lets the psyche guide the itinerary. Some of the poems came directly from dreams, which, like poetry, are a shorthand language and are sometimes lies that tell the truth.
I wanted to see you / and not look away / but you looked away first …
There are plane rides and bus rides as I rummage through my childhood home, as I dream of a surreal layover, as I take a plane to help take care of my elderly mother before she passed away (click on the video above to hear), or to celebrate a last family Labor Day cookout with my sister before she died of cancer.
I strain to remember the Caribbean sea / The iridescence of clam shells in New England / The blue quilted jumper my mother dressed me in / while my sister wore red for school picture day
The collection resolves with the acknowledgement that …we want the royal flush / and not the bluff / of being loved … and concludes with a chain of daisies where the childhood ones are as faded as the final ones will be, and All are fragile for better or worse / and all are worthy of cherishing …
– This is the last week of pre-orders, which determine the press run number of the book’s publication. Please click HERE to read more or to order. / In the video above I’m reading my contribution for Poet’s United Poetry Pantry.
June 4th, 2017 6:41 am
Congratulations Colleen – a huge achievement much deserved
June 4th, 2017 6:45 am
Congratulations!
June 4th, 2017 9:50 am
Congratulations!
The reading was beautiful. I thought favoring son over daughter was only special to India (of course not every one is like that here).
June 4th, 2017 10:11 am
I enjoyed your reading very much, I like the excerpts you’ve posted, and always think highly of your poetry. I would like to buy your book, and hope you plan to bring out an ebook version eventually, as that is my preferred reading now for a number of practical reasons.
June 4th, 2017 10:31 am
Once the pre-order period is done and it is printed, it will be available on Amazon. Not sure about the ebook part.
June 4th, 2017 11:19 am
Colleen, i love your reading of that loving and forgiving poem. What a good daughter you are. I am thrilled about your book and love the concept. Very cool idea and title.
June 4th, 2017 11:44 am
The reading was so well done, it feels a lot like coming to terms with the past before it’s too late… I realize what I have missed with my mother who plunged into dementia…
June 4th, 2017 1:07 pm
Congratulations! It takes a lot of work to put a book of poetry together.
June 4th, 2017 3:20 pm
Outstanding!
ZQ
June 4th, 2017 3:30 pm
Congratulations!! May you publish even more books ❤️
June 4th, 2017 7:02 pm
“Music is a memory that doesn’t skip”—ah, love this. And, always, always pack a book over an extra pair of shoes 🙂 A book can take you on a far better journey than a pair of shoes ever could.
June 5th, 2017 7:13 am
What a beautiful reading Colleen I really enjoyed that inseperable relationship that shone right through it.
July 29th, 2017 5:30 am
Ooo – how exciting. Congrats!