| From West by Northwest.org Arts & Letters Big Book, Small Press: A Review of "Lettuce In Winter," Poems by Richard Bear By Lois Barton Feb 15, 2003
Lettuce In Winter Poems by Richard Bear Stony Run Press 36690 Wheeler Road Pleasant Hill, OR 97455 2003 51 pages paper $10.00 This is a third book by Richard Bear. His "Desire for the Land" came out in 1993, and "Stony Run, A Gardener's Journal" in 2001. In "Lettuce in Winter" twenty-nine descriptive poems sensitively examine as many aspects of a varied life. One shares the presence of neighbors' curious horses or cows at the fence. Here are meteor watching parties, garden offerings, snow storms, surveyors, silence, the subtle changing relationships of life. A final accolade to Oregon's one-time poet laureate, William Stafford, completes the collection. Richard Bear's ruminations are thought-provoking. They delineate deeply personal wonderings and demonstrate a wide range of acquaintance with varied cultures and philosophies. The book is a good read for repeated enjoyment. As his web page explains: "These poems originally appeared on the Internet. Many have also appeared in Bellowing Ark, Sand River Journal, New Zoo Poetry Review, Lynx: Poetry from Bath, Aerious, Disquieting Muses, Ariga: Visions, Writtenmind, and Rockhurst Review. "Cityscape with Pink Rose" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize." Richard Bear is also an academic librarian and publisher of Renascence Editions, An Online Repository of Works Printed in English Between the Years 1477 and 1799 Book and Poerty lovers: please search other "Big Books, Small Press" Reviews at West By Northwest.org's Arts and Letters section. And visit Lois Barton at "Sunnyside of Spencer Butte" in West By Northwest.org's Spencer Creek Valley's section. © Copyright 2000-2004 by West by Northwest.org |
