REVIEW OF JUST BETWEEN US
Davis, Tom. JUST BETWEEN US. Fayetteville, NC: Old Mountain Press, Inc., 2010. 90 pages, trade paperback. $14.00. http://www.oldmountainpress.com/.
JUST BETWEEN US, compiled by Old Mountain Press, includes poetry and prose by 70 writers. North Carolina Writers’ Network-West members, Janice Townley Moore and Brenda Kay Ledford, have works in this anthology that cover relationships.
Relationships. That’s all there really is. There’s your relationship with the dust that just blew in your face, or with the person who just kicked you end over end…You have to come to terms to some kind of equilibrium, with those people around you, those people who care for you, your environment. –Leslie Marmon Silko.
This book covers a hodgepodge of relationships with: family, friends, the environment, music, math, teachers, students, God, pets, and people.
Works that cover the relationships with the environment include: Shelby Stephenson’s, “The Spring Presses my Suddenness,” and Kerri Mai Habben’s, “Leaves.” Ed Cockrell’s, poem, “Something in the Yard,” addresses beavers building dens on Collins’ Creek: “Big Red barks, and I stand on tip-toes to scan/ the moon-lit bramble. I wonder briefly/ if beavers have returned, eager for revenge.”
The relationships with animals range from Arnie Johanson’s, “A Couple of Mutts,” to C. Pleasants York’s poem, “Oscar.” This rabbit edited, critiqued, York’s work at night while munching on a carrot from his cage. His eyes were large, trusting, and liquid brown as he served as Editor in Chief.
Writers also described the relationships with families in this anthology. Blanche L. Ledford’s, “My Mentor,” tells about the bond with her mother-in-law. “I worked beside Ma as we cooked, canned food, churned buttermilk, kept house, and quilted. Ma taught me many things, and I shared my knowledge with her.”
Another story that covers the relationship with family includes Tom Davis’s, “Who’s in Charge”: “The door burst open, and Polly barreled in from a shopping spree, hugging an armload of pants, jackets, and skirts with little white tags flapping furiously in the air…”
Additionally, the relationship between a teacher and student was addressed in Barbara Ledford Wright’s, “Encouraging Andrew.” Says Wright, “The bug game was the turning point that encouraged Andrew. Between the two of us, a magnificent teacher-student relationship developed.”
Besides relationships with pets and people, Debra Kaufman explores “The Hidden Passion of Mathematicians”: “ Step into the garden of conjectures and see/ my Julia sets are uniformly perfect…”
Also, BJ Gillum refers to earthly bonds and his maker in “Eternal Love”:
When all our words are spoken
And sweet silence fills the air,
When earthly bonds are broken
And our souls ascend the stair
We will embrace and kiss forever
And to our maker we shall go.
Our hearts will then be happy
And with gladness overflow.
Finally, JUST BETWEEN US, covers the theme of relationships. It’s a wonderful anthology and the writers hold outstanding credentials. This book would make a great gift.
To order, JUST BETWEEN US, go to: http://www.oldmountainpress.com/.
Book reviewed by: Brenda Kay Ledford
http://www.brendakayledford.com/
http:blueridgepoet.blogspot.com.
Davis, Tom. JUST BETWEEN US. Fayetteville, NC: Old Mountain Press, Inc., 2010. 90 pages, trade paperback. $14.00. http://www.oldmountainpress.com/.
JUST BETWEEN US, compiled by Old Mountain Press, includes poetry and prose by 70 writers. North Carolina Writers’ Network-West members, Janice Townley Moore and Brenda Kay Ledford, have works in this anthology that cover relationships.
Relationships. That’s all there really is. There’s your relationship with the dust that just blew in your face, or with the person who just kicked you end over end…You have to come to terms to some kind of equilibrium, with those people around you, those people who care for you, your environment. –Leslie Marmon Silko.
This book covers a hodgepodge of relationships with: family, friends, the environment, music, math, teachers, students, God, pets, and people.
Works that cover the relationships with the environment include: Shelby Stephenson’s, “The Spring Presses my Suddenness,” and Kerri Mai Habben’s, “Leaves.” Ed Cockrell’s, poem, “Something in the Yard,” addresses beavers building dens on Collins’ Creek: “Big Red barks, and I stand on tip-toes to scan/ the moon-lit bramble. I wonder briefly/ if beavers have returned, eager for revenge.”
The relationships with animals range from Arnie Johanson’s, “A Couple of Mutts,” to C. Pleasants York’s poem, “Oscar.” This rabbit edited, critiqued, York’s work at night while munching on a carrot from his cage. His eyes were large, trusting, and liquid brown as he served as Editor in Chief.
Writers also described the relationships with families in this anthology. Blanche L. Ledford’s, “My Mentor,” tells about the bond with her mother-in-law. “I worked beside Ma as we cooked, canned food, churned buttermilk, kept house, and quilted. Ma taught me many things, and I shared my knowledge with her.”
Another story that covers the relationship with family includes Tom Davis’s, “Who’s in Charge”: “The door burst open, and Polly barreled in from a shopping spree, hugging an armload of pants, jackets, and skirts with little white tags flapping furiously in the air…”
Additionally, the relationship between a teacher and student was addressed in Barbara Ledford Wright’s, “Encouraging Andrew.” Says Wright, “The bug game was the turning point that encouraged Andrew. Between the two of us, a magnificent teacher-student relationship developed.”
Besides relationships with pets and people, Debra Kaufman explores “The Hidden Passion of Mathematicians”: “ Step into the garden of conjectures and see/ my Julia sets are uniformly perfect…”
Also, BJ Gillum refers to earthly bonds and his maker in “Eternal Love”:
When all our words are spoken
And sweet silence fills the air,
When earthly bonds are broken
And our souls ascend the stair
We will embrace and kiss forever
And to our maker we shall go.
Our hearts will then be happy
And with gladness overflow.
Finally, JUST BETWEEN US, covers the theme of relationships. It’s a wonderful anthology and the writers hold outstanding credentials. This book would make a great gift.
To order, JUST BETWEEN US, go to: http://www.oldmountainpress.com/.
Book reviewed by: Brenda Kay Ledford
http://www.brendakayledford.com/
http:blueridgepoet.blogspot.com.
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