Mary Ricketson's latest poetry book is here

We are proud to announce the publication of this poetry book: 

Keeping in Place, a chapbook of poems by Mary Ricketson, Murphy NC, published by Finishing Line Press:  This collection of poems chronicles the author’s experience, isolated at home in the Appalachian mountains during the first several months of the current Covid 19 pandemic.   

 “Keeping in Place,” says author and Young Harris College professor Rosemary Royston, “is a collection of poems where the speaker, stricken by COVID, turns her focus to nature, drinks in the magic of the mountains, and absorbs the wisdom of walnuts.”  

Shelby Stephenson, former Poet Laureate of North Carolina, says Ricketson “pays homage to the natural world she loves, securing emotions she treasures… On her walks, she salutes the cow, the mule, the plants, and a hemlock she tunes to survival.” 

Ricketson’s poems often reflect the healing power of nature, surrounding mountains as a midwife for her words.  Her published collections are I Hear the River Call My Name, Hanging Dog Creek, Shade and Shelter, and Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian.  She writes a column, Woman to Woman, for The Cherokee Scout in Murphy NC. 

Keeping in Place is available from Curiosity Bookstore in Murphy, City Lights in Sylva, the author, or www.finishinglinepress.com. 

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A Personal Note

I received my copy of Keeping in Place and found the book filled with thoughtful verses and images that draw me in: "Walking home, past red farm implements,/ pitchforks in place by shovels and pic axes,/ where even gravel looks bright against dirt, /one white iris sings her promise of hope."

From the poem, "My Contemplation."

"Sick with COVID went viral"  - tells of the horrible experience of illness, being alone, the phone her lifeline, and then the joy of the Negative test later. I felt her pain, her anxiety, and her relief.

Congratulations to Mary Ricketson for another exceptional poetry book.

Glenda Beall

April is Poetry Month - Keeping in Place by Mary Ricketson

How to Get Happy

Wait for a breeze, hope that vine of honeysuckle
smells stronger, stirs a rush of fragrance in the air.

Will these climbing roses to open, dazzle the day with red.
Allow a prick of thorns when you grab a stem to keep.

Thank the gold and black buzzing pollinators in the garden.
Beware of attack. That territory is their own.

Taste the air when the tickling breeze finally bustles,
fresh as cold spring water from the source.

Push one honeysuckle blossom to your lips,
slip under the spell of sweet wishes and dreams.
Lazy away, charmed into a summer’s day.

                                         --- Mary Ricketson

Published:  Enjoy the Holidays, a poetry and prose anthology by Old Mountain Press, October 2020, and forthcoming chapbook July 2021 Keeping in Place, Finishing Line Press

 

Mary Ricketson’s poems often reflect the healing power of nature, surrounding mountains as midwife for her words.  Her published collections are I Hear the River Call My Name, Hanging Dog Creek, Shade and Shelter, Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian,  Keeping in Place, forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.

www.maryricketson.com

 

Keeping in Place, a poetry book by Mary Ricketson

 

 

Finishing Line Press  

Announces the Publication of   

Mary Ricketson's 

Keeping in Place poems of COVID, sheltered in place  

                                                                       Cover photo by Alex Peers 

 

I’d love for you to have a copy of my new poetry chapbook, written while I’ve been at home during the pandemic. I made my way through COVID and the necessary quarantine.  

  

You can order now, until early May, for printing and shipping in July.  I’m spreading the word now because the publisher bases the print run on the number of prepublication orders received. So, please feel free to send this notice to anyone who might be interested.   

  Reviews:  

 In Keeping in Place, Mary Ricketson pays homage to the natural world she loves, securing emotions she treasures.  Her identity flourishes as she longs for the end of Pandemic… 

Shelby Stephenson, Poet Laureate of North Carolina, 2015-2018, author of Slavery and Freedom on Paul’s Hill and More 

 

Mary Ricketson’s Keeping in Place is one of the first of a new generation of poems inspired by the global pandemic of 2020, and it invites the reader to find balance, if not solace… 

Catherine Carter, author of The Memory of Gills, The Swamp Monster at Home, and Larvae of the Nearest Stars, professor of English, Western Carolina University. 

 

Mary Ricketson with her intense love for nature and mountain life has found a way in her book to interweave beautiful images with the seriousness and isolation of the Corona Virus. 

Glenda Barrett, author of When the Sap Rises, and The Beauty of Silence 

 

Keeping in Place is a collection of poems where the speaker, stricken by COVID, turns her focus to nature…Solo, ill, and counting the days since she’s been touched, the speaker still makes the reader chuckle… 

Rosemary R. Royston, author of Splitting the Soil 

 

Mary Ricketson lives in the Appalachian Mountains and maintains a private practice as a mental health counselor.  Her poems often reflect the healing power of nature, surrounding mountains as midwives for her words.  Her published collections are I Hear the River Call My Name, Hanging Dog Creek, Shade and Shelter, Mississippi: The Story of Luke and Marian.     www.maryricketson.com  

 Order online at: http://www.finishinglinepress.com, search for Keeping in Place, click to order.  

or https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/keeping-in-place-by-mary-ricketson/  

  

Or mail your order to Finishing Line Press:  

Please send me __ copy(ies) of Keeping in Place, $14.99 per copy plus $2.99 shipping per copy, 1.99 for extra copies.  

Enclosed is my check or money order (payable to Finishing Line Press) for $____________   

  

Name_______________________________________________ 

  

Address___________________________________________   

  

City/State/Zip______________________________________   

  

Please send check or money order to: Finishing Line Press Post Office Box 1626 Georgetown, KY 40324