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Joe Hall is continuing the long tradition of a family with deep roots in the Simsbury region. His grandfather was the station master of the Simsbury depot, and his relatives have worked the land in the area for centuries. Joe's many interests in farming, writing, woodworking, hiking, and archaeology have merged as one. Beginning with trade schools to learn masonry and carpentry, and briefly studying engineering, Joe entered the University of Connecticut, where he studied agriculture and upon graduation continued farming. For the last thirty years, he has operated the J.L.Hall Farm on Terry's Plain Road. Joe is one of the most recent members of a family which has farmed land in the Simsbury region since the 18th century. He writes about his life and surroundings every day, always keeping a notepad with him and often stopping his tractor in midfield when a thought or memory occurs to him. Joe is deeply immersed in the natural surroundings of his riverside world. He feels a kinship with the natïve Americans of the Tunxis nation, who worked the same land and whose artifacts Joe finds in abundance, creating a collection of them which is an archaeology treasure. He is the last in a long line of Halls who have worked the land in the Simsbury region since the 18th Century, a man for all seasons: a long-time farmer whose roadside stand is a trove of seasonal produce; a protector of the environment; a generous supporter of local initiatives; a naturalist; a repairman with a genius for fixing whatever is broken; and a writer often stopping his tractor in mid-furrow and pulling out his notebook.

As its title suggests, Rennie McQuilkin's newest poetry collection, Transformings, focuses on a variety of transformations that occur in both personal and public life. The poems depict the poet's early and later years, in particular the tragic death of his wife, afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease, and his life in a retirement community. The worlds of nature and personal relationship are central to the book. In its second section, Transformings presents poems concerning the recent war in the Holy Land, searching for glimmers of hope in a dire situation, suggesting that peace is the only answer, and ending with the score for a musical rendering of the book's final poem, "Hymn for Peace." Always, the poems avoid obscurity and welcome the reader to engage in poetic conversation, looking for hope in even the most desperate moments and finding much joy in life. The poet writes with a deft touch, striving for simplicity and allowing an abundance of humor into his meditations.

About The Prevalence of Mystery, Rennie McQuilkin's late-life poetry collection, the author writes this: "I present these poems as a sort of postscript remembering the long year following the departure of my dear wife, Sarah. I trust they reflect my enduring love for her; faith in the value of holding fast; admiration of the natural world; and profound respect for those who have shown me the way. Behind it all is the prevalence of mystery."

¿A queer love story in five acts, Dancehall follows the arc of a relationship from its earliest days to its final, somber conclusion. In these 60 poems, you will join the speaker as they navigate the highs and the lows, the tranquility and the turbulence, the euphoria and the despair that comes with giving yourself fully to another. Through language, imagery, and form at once universal and intimate, you are invited to take part in this love story - not as some distant observer, but as a central figure: The "you" to whom the speaker writes these poems. Experienced poetry readers and poetry novices alike will enjoy the clean, simple style embodied in the majority of the poems. Whether straight or queer, young or old, single or happily partnered, these poems are for anyone who has ever loved or longed for another.

While not shirking from the worst the modern world throws against us with its violence, its wars, and its racism, these poems offer a "momentary stay" against the personal, political, and environmental perils that afflict us in these desperate days. Always there is an upbeat, often witty tenor to the book, which suggests that the more we are challenged the more we find it in us to call on resources of love and courage that might have lain low at other times. A number of cultural and spiritual heroes figure in the book. The poems are highly readable and classic in their Quaker-like simplicity. They will make you laugh and cry and cheer for the inspiration they offer.

In this harrowing and endearing collection of poems concerning his wife's dementia, Rennie McQuilkin pulls no punches but describes in stark and graphic terms the havoc that Alzheimer's can wreak in the life of the afflicted person and all those in her immediate and extended family. But he also shows that a deepening of love can grow from what might otherwise seem like total devastation. The gains described here make this an inspiring book from which readers will derive hope and resilience in whatever battles they fight.

In her new poetry collection, Armed to the Teeth, Ellen Hirning Schmidt faces life's perils courageously, and being armed with the powers of family, the natural world, and a strong heart full of love, emerges victorious. Readers of this book will take heart from its victories.

Gail Moran Slater's poetry collection At the Edge finds multiple consolations for the sadness at its heart: consolations of the natural world, works of art, mid-life love, and the joys of family.

In her new poetry collection, What Glues Us Together, Nancy Manning pulls no punches, depicting the worst that life can hurl against her, both personally and globally, but she prevails against all odds through the powers of love, family, and the natural world. Readers will be inspired by her resilience, humanity, and generosity of spirit.

Like a friend "who found light in the unlit corner of every room," these are poems of illumination, appreciation and consolation found in the small moments of life sustained by love of the natural world.

the poems in Pastoral Suite welcome those in-between hours when we turn off the voices of radios and reconnect with a few solitary clouds. A master of suspended time, Muro removes us from a busy world and leads us into an abundant life thick with details of wind-shorn nests of lichen and leaves that hung like paper/lanterns or flecks of gold disgorged downstream over moss-softened stone. Pastoral Suite is a beautiful meditation that locates the sacred in the natural world and in the present, creating a splendor that reminds us how nature heals and how poetry can take us from a place of chaos into a world of calm.

There is magic in the incantatory, free-flowing poems of Martha Readyoff''s Little Lives. In these poems, the natural world is both vibrantly real and enchantingly fanciful. And we find here a passion for all that is vulnerable in the world, the little lives of children and all natural creatures. Be ready for a wild and thoroughly enjoyable ride. It will change you.

In his new book, The Rounding, Rennie McQuilkin faces down the horrors of 2020-2021, seeing them clearly but focusing on ways in which he and other survivors have found ways to ride out the storm. The poet finds salvation in the natural world, the arts, gardening, and care for others. He clings to a precarious religious faith, just as he clings to the cliff of the troubled world, keeping his fingernails in fighting trim.  

Al Basile''s poems have style, joy, and - above all - verve. Sometimes they unfold with the lyric expansiveness of great jazz solos. Sometimes they shine as beautifully jeweled miniatures. What a pleasure to read a book of poems with such unabashed energy. Al Basile''s playful ease with the pentameter line bespeaks a sensibility trained in the subtleties of musical rhythm and voice. Turn almost anywhere in this rich collection from five decades and you''ll find "an instinct for the game, and more." He produces poems that are almost holographic in their insistence on bringing their author into the reader''s space, where he - his tone of voice, body language and facial expressions - constitute an uncanny presence. The very title of the book identifies the author as a music-maker determined to be heard, and as a poet whose first concern is achieving the tone in which he wants to be heard by the reader.