The Backwaters Press presents…
Jody A. Zorgdrager’s new book: Of Consequence.
Marianne Boruch:
Through the dark of childhood and the illness of aging parents, through the mystery of insects and roses and gulls, in places both ordinary and odd, this poet enters beauty — its pain and release — with equal fearlessness.
Julia Kasdorf:
In Dutch, “Zorgdrager” means “one who carries another’s burdens,” and that notion becomes a principle of poetics in this surprising and fine collection of poems forged from everyday life. Reading, we share in the cruelty of children, the brutality of chemotherapy, and the grace of a routine visit to the dentist. Zorgdrager’s eye consistently transforms ordinary details into matters of consequence, and her voice—intimate, colloquial, genuine—articulates the drama in and beyond small moments. Gorgeously crafted and wise, these are poems to carry and to share.
Steve Orlen:
What is our destiny and what controls it? In some of these powerfully affective poems, the overriding factor is character; in others, what we inherit from our ancestors and both are mitigated by happenstance and will. The genre is the dramatic lyric, musical, and driven by an exquisitely fluent syntax. The lens is Time itself, as past and future combine in the dramatic moment to give the largest scope to the lives under this poet’s eye. Paradox is what gives perspective here, and in its mysterious way, offers something like consolation: “most of what we thought we knew/is now reversed, and what once/had seemed absurd, in time, seems normal, / makes sense, becomes our vital miracle…”
I’m thrilled to announce that my friend, the imaginative and talented poet Jody A. Zorgdrager, is going to be reading from her new book, Of Consequence, on Friday, November 7, at 7:30PM.
Come join me at The University Heights Community Center Auditorium, located at 5031 University Way NE, in Seattle (on the second floor of the Community Center).
A book signing and dessert reception will follow.
For more information, call 425-483-9659
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For those interested, books may be purchased at the reading for a discounted price of $15.00 (cash or check only, please). They also may be ordered from amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com, after November 1, 2008.
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Complimentary parking is available in the Community Center parking lot; no pass is needed after 5 PM. There is also street parking available nearby.
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