I remember meeting Miriam (Miri) Dunn in the earliest days of G+. She would pop into one of my threads with a diverse array of moods – quick-witted, humorful, biting, kind, intelligent, strong, thoughtful…far too numerous to list. We shared many interests – women, children, art, writing, creativity, the natural world, human nature, social and political issues – some urgent, some half-hearted, some serious, some whimsical.

I even commissioned Miri to knit me a hat. She is prone to bouts of all sorts of creativity.

So I was not surprised, some five years in, to learn that Winter Goose Publishing has printed Miri’s Who Will Love The Crow, and that its pages sound with the multiplicity of thoughts and subjects I have seen emerge in her words on this platform. Miriam gives us:

“The late days of our journey
are turning cold;” (from Each Moment Sweet)

“When you pass through Kenzieville Curve
Earth hugs you.” (from Kenzieville Curve)

“I was twelve years old
yet at the top of the stair I wished I were younger
and could creep, courageous and silent,
into your camphor rooms as I once did,
and slide my fingers across
the forbidden bric-a-brac of your life.” (from The Clock)

“When the clouds move in
we lay on our backs,
arms behind our heads,
and searched for faces of the dead.” (from Hunger)

“Here is the groan of the mountain that rises” (from The Hush)

“Let’s wrestle in the sounds and smells of my life gone by.
Not in silence.
Bring me music.
Haunting, shocking, pointless, poignant.” (from Not Silent)

and….

“Where the soulless wander,
you cannot say for sure;
but the dead shall do the living
in honour of your war.” (from Holy)

I cannot tell anyone what any poem is about. Each verse reveals itself as it is read – out loud, outside, indoors abed by the glow of a night light, spoken from memory while driving XC, recited from a dais in front of a late night coffee house crowd, or written in hand on paper and slipped into a stamped envelope and sent off to someone to whom it might speak.

But I will say that to me Who Will Love The Crow is a fearless celebration of life and death, of love and loss, an unwavering look at everything that grips us in the moment…a reminder to notice, to remember, to appreciate…

I continue to buy printed books because when I look at my bookshelf the individuals who authored the deckled or straight-edges pages sewn or glued together between covers soft or hard, with graphics photographed or illustrated, announce themselves anew to me like old friends coming to dinner.

They blare out their non-digital identities like dancers, like musicians, like birds screaming…I am a raven…and that is a Crow…

For those of you who love poetry, dive in. For those of you who haven’t read much…or any…dip your toes, then immerse yourselves…naked if you dare. You will feel like you are having a conversation with an old friend.

$4.99 on Kindle. $10.99 in Paperback. I have both. Because one day I will hear Literally Literary with Miriam Dunn read her poetry aloud…and wholly other meanings will be revealed. And then I will stand in line to get her autograph.

But long before then, Who Will Love The Crow will have a place among my collection of favorite poetry books…and if it is lucky, when the Black Snake comes again to visit…it will see it there, and spend some lucky time pondering Who Will Love The Crow.

From the Back Cover:

“Poet and Writer Miriam Dunn grew up on the pristine shores of Cape Breton Island, with Canada’s Atlantic Coast and local woodlands as the inspiring backdrop to her life.”

#WhoWillLoveTheCrow #MiriamDunn #Poetry   #WinterGoosePublishing #OliviaEllenMacDonald   #OdysseyBooks    

Who Will Love The Crow:
https://www.amazon.com/Will-Love-Crow-Miriam-Dunn/dp/1941058485?ie=UTF8&qid=1465257176&ref_=tmm_pap_swatch_0&sr=8-2

http://wintergoosepublishing.com/new-release-will-love-crow