https://www.amazon.com/Driving-Right-Side-Brain-Selected-ebook/dp/B01N2Y39TE
Dolores
Stewart Riccio, Plymouth-based poet and author of a series of clever mysteries by
a circle of psychic friends, has published a new collection of her poems titled "Driving with the Right Side of
the Brain."
The
book begins with the classic lament of the mature poet: "not enough
time."
Citing
a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson on the task of the creative imagination ("My
books should smell of the pines and resound with the hum of the insects"),
Riccio's poem is titled "What Shall We Do About This Abundance?" It begins:
There
simply isn't enough time
to
get around to all the inviting
beach
roses, simmering with silk and scent.
Speaking
as someone who has long appreciated the company of beach roses, I say what a
marvelous image: "simmering with silk and scent."
All
those soft 's' sounds really do simmer. Silk strikes me as exactly right for the
consistency of that special breed of rose, and 'scent' is the first sign of their
presence when you near a New England shoreline.
This
poem concludes with an observation, "Before we are ready, the end of
summer comes," both true and resonant. Because this is always the way of
things, isn't it? Because, yes, summer comes to an end before we have figured out
"what to do" with any of it. And by now we also realize that we are
not merely speaking of summer.
All
of this imaginative, philosophical punch packed into the first page of a book
of 104 pages of similarly reflective, delightful and affecting poetry.
Riccio
is a member of an ongoing poetry group sponsored by the Duxbury Library. The
library's director, Carol Jankowski, sums up "Driving
with the Right Side of the Brain" this way:
In her new
anthology of poems, Dolores Stewart Riccio invites curiosity, memory, love,
mystery, pageantry, and history to attend a celebration of soul! Each poem
speaks directly to the reader; each lovely image appears in the mind’s eye and
heart as brilliantly as a celestial panorama. The anthology is divided into
eight sections, with topics ranging from Reincarnation to Shapeshifter and Acts
of Faith. In the poem “Driving with the Right Side of the Brain,” the poet
exclaims, “some daredevil soul records with a flourish of a pen adventures I
never remember.” Trust me, daredevil souls: readers will lovingly remember the
adventures that come alive in this poetry!
Ellen
Jane Powers, author of a poetry collection titled "Celestial Navigations,"
writes of Riccio's book: "At times we feel we're overhearing a private
rumination, then we come across an 'old spell' or charm to carry us onward. Her
language is at once philosophical and witty, giving power to the underdog and
dame alike."
Having
received a review copy of her new book , I wrote a brief review as
well:
Dolores
Stewart Riccio's sure-handed lyrics, ranging from delicate to pointed, show us
Shakespeare at the senior center, Greek mythology in the publisher's office, a
Lakota legend on the power of youthful desire, quiet testimonies to the mystery
of an undying love. She sees the legendary in the everyday as well, a grieving
old man merging into his garden, mountains whirling just out of sight, rivers
of sky only a bird can navigate. Her volume of new and selected poems is a book
of marvels, some of them the everyday kind like listening to opera while
driving to the post office, a cache of unexpected words for death ("the
professor of fates and balances"), some of them acts of faith such as
"Negative Birthday Candles." These poems provide a fitting response
to the epistemological teaser "Do you believe you are breathing?"
Dolores Stewart Riccio's answer: "I
do not believe, I know."
You
can find more information about the author's series of novels, known as the The
Divine Circle of Ladies mysteries, at her website: http://www.doloresstewartriccio.com/works.htm
These clever
and entertaining ladies are a little more inclined to magic and witchcraft than
to the writing of verse. But magic is a kind of poetry as well.
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