Reflections: New and Selected Poems

by Ute Carson

Overview

What a remarkable, sweeping collection from writer Ute Carson! This inspired arrangement of poetry, conveys the richness and poignancy of every life stage. Drawing from remarkable experience and striking particulars, she ultimately conveys the light of gratitude—“the clearing you spy / beyond a forest thicket.” The poems are love songs to family and life itself, cyclical loss answered always by powerful renewal.

—Judith Austin Mills, author of Accidental Joy, a Streak of Poetry and the Texas Revolution Trilogy

Ute Carson’s poems are gifts she “lift[s] out one by one / and gingerly hold[s]them up / to the silver light of sunset.” These poems are infused with the joys of grandparenting and the consolations that nature and memory offer while clear-eyed in their contemplation of aging and death. Standing in the tension between cherishing and letting go, her voice rings true in these poems as she says: “I know this is the life. / I would want no other.”

—Carol Denson, poet

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632100320
Publisher:	Plain View Press, LLC
Publication date:	03/01/2018
Pages:	98
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.20(d)

About the Author

A writer from youth and an M.A. graduate in comparative literature from the University of Rochester, German-born Ute Carson published her first prose piece in 1977. Colt Tailing, a 2004 novel, was a finalist for the Peter Taylor Book Award. Carson's story "The Fall" won Outrider Press's Grand Prize and appeared in its short story and poetry anthology A Walk through My Garden, 2007. Her second novel, In Transit, was published in 2008. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and magazines in the US and abroad. Carson's poetry was featured on the televised Spoken Word Showcase 2009, 2010 and 2011, Channel Austin, Texas. A poetry collection, Just a Few Feathers was published in 2011. The poem "A Tangled Nest of Moments" placed second in the Eleventh International Poetry Competition 2012. Her chapbook Folding Washing was published in 2013 and her collection of poems My Gift to Life was nominated for the 2015 Pushcart Award Prize. Save the Last Kiss, a novella, was published in 2016.
Ute Carson resides in Austin, Texas with her husband. They have three daughters, six grandchildren, a horse and a clowder of cats. Visit her website at www.utecarson.com

Table of Contents

Tree Forks 9

Let There Be Light 11

Nostalgic Summer Days 12

Mother of Many Children 13

In a Bubble of Bliss 14

Time Stands Still 15

Trust 16

Lemonade for Sale 17

Tree Forks 18

The Scarf 19

This Is the Life 20

The Family Album 21

Give Me a Grandparent 22

Generations 23

Generational Window-Watching 24

The Space Between 25

Watching My Mother 27

Now 28

The Space Between 29

Bow and Arrow 30

Waiting 31

Today’s Slippers Become Tomorrow’s Army Boots 32

You Can’t Earn It 33

Chambers of My Heart 34

Octopus 35

Messengers 36

Morning Ritual 37

Binding the Years 39

Homecoming 41

I Love You Even More 42

River of Life 43

Binding the Years 44

Reaching for the Morning Star 45

Riding the Coattails of the Morning Sun 46

Old Age, Another Country 47

When Did I Get Old? 48

Seven Decades On 49

Extra Padding 50

Unique Beauty of an Old Face 51

Folding Washing 53

Old Heart 55

Folding Washing 56

Old Couples 57

Alone But Not Lonely 58

Time Past, Time Present 59

Time, Mother of Transformation 60

The Power of Words 61

More than Memorabilia 62

Whiskers in the Night 63

Grief 64

Elegy for a Dying Friend 65

Milk and Tears 66

Bodies in Mourning 67

Once More for Real 69

Nothing in Nature Is Ever Lost 71

Remains of a Life 72

Eternity 73

Once More for Real 74

Reflections on a Journey 75

Combustible 76

You Could Be Wrong 77

Living Deferred 78

A Guest at a Wedding 79

The Lure of the Ordinary 80

Sunrise, Sunset 81

Success 82

Mystery 83

A Tangled Nest of Moments 85

The Mysteries of Others 87

Boarding School 88

A Tangled Nest of Moments 89

Toward Evening 90

Before the Traces Are Lost 91

In My End Is My Beginning 92

Letting Go of the Past 93

Carpe Diem 94

Give Me One More Time 95

The Waters Within 96

About the Author 97

Editorial Reviews

What a remarkable, sweeping collection from writer Ute Carson! This inspired arrangement of poetry, conveys the richness and poignancy of every life stage. Drawing from remarkable experience and striking particulars, she ultimately conveys the light of gratitude—“the clearing you spy / beyond a forest thicket.” The poems are love songs to family and life itself, cyclical loss answered always by powerful renewal.

—Judith Austin Mills, author of Accidental Joy, a Streak of Poetry and the Texas Revolution Trilogy

Ute Carson’s poems are gifts she “lift[s] out one by one / and gingerly hold[s]them up / to the silver light of sunset.” These poems are infused with the joys of grandparenting and the consolations that nature and memory offer while clear-eyed in their contemplation of aging and death. Standing in the tension between cherishing and letting go, her voice rings true in these poems as she says: “I know this is the life. / I would want no other.”

—Carol Denson, poet

From the Publisher