FEBRUARY 8, 2018 // 23
BOOKMONGER
Poets ponder connection and frailty, faith and forgiveness
A month or so ago, this
column focused on recently
published books by two
male poets. This week,
let’s give equal time to the
ladies.
Seattle poet Katy E.
Ellis already had two chap-
books to her name when
her newest effort, “Night
Watch,” was awarded the
2017 Floating Bridge Press
Chapbook Award. Float-
ing Bridge Press, founded
nearly a quarter century
ago and run by volunteers,
supports the work of Wash-
ington State poets.
To get the full effect of
the poems in “Night Watch,”
you’ll want to read them
sequentially, from the front
of the book to the back. Ellis
alternates between “Pre-“
and “Post-“ entries — but
for what purpose you will
be hard-pressed to fathom
if you try, as I did at first, to
dip randomly into the pages
to sample the poems. To do
that is only to be confound-
ed.
It’s much better to begin
at the beginning, where
you’ll find an exquisite-
ly crafted paragraph that
describes nighttime at a
cabin in winter — “a strati-
fication of blankets,” and a
“star-infested sky.”
Turn the page and
you’ll consider a train ride
from several years past,
the passengers a motley
but generally convivial
mix of Deadheads, pious
immigrants, families and
runaways. On to the next
page and a different train
ride, somewhat later.
And sure enough,
through these “Pre-“ and
“Post-“ poems, you’ll
begin arriving — not in-
stantaneously, but gradual-
ly — at a new reality that
couldn’t have been imag-
ined until it happened.
From meteor showers
and the moon in the sky
above, to the Coast Star-
light on the ground — Ellis’
poems ponder connection
and acknowledge frailty.
This little chapbook, filled
with tragedy and wonder, is
simply first-rate.
Also highly recom-
mended: the debut poetry
collection of a Tacoma oc-
togenarian — we shouldn’t
have had to wait so long!
Glenna Cook’s new book,
“Thresholds,” is a kaleido-
scopic review of life within
a family.
Mother, sister, husband,
son: With each poetic
turn, the colored chips of
foibles, virtues, habits,
mistakes and milestone
events reconfigure — mak-
ing sense in different ways,
sparkling or seeming to
disappear, then cropping
up again to be reconsidered
from a fresh perspective.
Over the course of more
than 100 poems, the reader
will begin to divine that
tribulations and joys some-
times turn out to be made
of the same stuff.
After a lifetime of
stepping in to serve as the
caregiver to family mem-
bers who are coping with
mental or physical chal-
lenges, Cook gets her own
diagnosis of Parkinson’s
disease. She pushes back in
a poem titled “New Friend”:
“You’ll be my incentive / to
fill my days / with nourish-
ing pursuits …”
Uplifting if not al-
ways upbeat, these poems
resonate with poignancy
and faith and forgiveness.
While the challenges Cook
explores through her poetry
are uniquely her own, every
family has its litany, and
any reader should be able to
find many points of entry to
these poems.
Thanks to Tilla-
mook-based MoonPath
Press for seeing to it that
this poetry collection got
published.
The Bookmonger is Bar-
bara Lloyd McMichael, who
writes this weekly column
focusing on the books, au-
thors and publishers of the
Pacific Northwest. Contact
her at bkmonger@nwlink.
com.
The
Artist guild showcases Nitzel’s paintings
LONG BEACH, WASH. — Northwest
Artist Guild will hold its first
reception of the year 5:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 10. The public is
invited to enjoy newly created art
at The Picture Attic (711 Pacific
Highway North) in Long Beach.
Jean Nitzel, a founding
member of the guild will be the
featured artist for this occasion.
Nitzel works in watercolor, and
her paintings show a softer side
of local birds and animals. She
also paints landscape and sea-
scape subjects. Her art is meant
to convey joy in living through
watercolor.
The guild will be showing
every other month this year; the
next show will be in April. In
May the group will again spon-
sor their nonmember art show
with monetary prizes to the top
winners.
For information on the con-
test, contact The Picture Attic at
picattic@gmail.com or by phone
at 360-642-4770.
“Thresholds”
By Glenna Cook
MoonPath Press
178 pp
$15
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A painting of a beagle pup by Jean Nitzel
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