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Amnesia and Awakenings
by Cristina M. R. Norcross
(Local Gems Press, 2016)
Cover Artist: Kelsey Becker
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Amnesia and Awakenings (Local Gems Press, 2016) is a collection
of poems offering a guide map, through verse, for the transformation of
spirit. Some poems focus on life
chapters and challenges. Others paint a
vivid picture of the changes in the natural world or the transformation of the
body with age. Every poem engages with
hope, like a furtive bird singing on a branch, to no one in particular, and
also to everyone. These poems ask the
reader to listen and be more tender, more patient, with the self that is
emerging every day.
Sample poem from Amnesia and Awakenings
Sample poem from Amnesia and Awakenings
Next Time, a Feather
Next
time around I will be lighter than air,
wider
than a canyon –
brighter
than the deep yellow burning in the sky.
Next
time
I
will be flower fairy or sprite.
I
will be fantail or fin –
flying
or swimming to find the Light.
Mermaid
depths will take me
to
distant shores
and
to the bottom –
where
the fish with the flashlight globe lives.
Next
time
I
will be free –
the
white running horse with wings or horn,
the
Griffin who roars while taking flight.
Next
time
I
will not forget so easily
where
I came from.
I
will have a clear sight
of
where I am going.
Next
time
I
will simply take one step to the side.
The
next realm is right here –
breathing
beside us.
Back Cover Blurbs
“Cristina
Norcross’s Amnesia and Awakenings is a call to be fully present in our
humanness, to bear attentive witness to the numerous cycles that fill our
lives. As she writes, “We may be here awhile/says the body./Take root,/grow
windows/and look out.” Here too is a poet in deep engagement with the natural
world. Norcross is an eager student and scholar of the animal kingdom,
recognizing a metaphor for hope in a many-legged beetle, for passion in a
bird’s flight. These poems are a call to a higher plane of attention, one we’d
be wise to heed.”
~Paulette Beete, author of Voice Lessons and Blues for a Pretty Girl
“Amnesia and Awakenings is one sweet read (or many)! Like a book of hymns waiting to chorus and chorus again, these are poems that beg to be reread—poems of rebirth and growth, poems that “sew things back together.” Even in moments of profound sadness, like the death of a child, we hear Norcross’s soft voice of hope, of “next time” – a boundless connectedness with the earth, the sky, each other.”
~Cathryn Cofell, author of Sister Satellite
“These poems reflect the deep sweetness of embodied awareness, of the dreams we were born to discover, and of the nourishing power of grace. Sip from them. Savor them. Be reminded of what is boundless and true.”
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff, author of What Holds Us, Moonlight and Remembrance, and Befriending the Soul
~Paulette Beete, author of Voice Lessons and Blues for a Pretty Girl
“Amnesia and Awakenings is one sweet read (or many)! Like a book of hymns waiting to chorus and chorus again, these are poems that beg to be reread—poems of rebirth and growth, poems that “sew things back together.” Even in moments of profound sadness, like the death of a child, we hear Norcross’s soft voice of hope, of “next time” – a boundless connectedness with the earth, the sky, each other.”
~Cathryn Cofell, author of Sister Satellite
“These poems reflect the deep sweetness of embodied awareness, of the dreams we were born to discover, and of the nourishing power of grace. Sip from them. Savor them. Be reminded of what is boundless and true.”
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff, author of What Holds Us, Moonlight and Remembrance, and Befriending the Soul
• I will be having a double BOOK LAUNCH PARTY at Books & Company on Saturday, October 15, 2016 (6:30-8:30pm) to celebrate the publication of both Amnesia and Awakenings and my poetry chapbook, Still Life Stories (Aldrich Press/Kelsay Books), forthcoming, 2016). There will be an open mic for all local poets, after the featured reading, and I will be signing books at the event. Hope you can join us!
Peace and poetry,
Cristina
Founding Editor, Blue Heron Review
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