Incandescent: poems

The poems in Emilie Buchwald's lyrical new collection celebrate both the thrills and remorselessness of childhood and the insights and confidence that come with maturity. Buchwald shares her dreams as well as her concerns about the world we find ourselves living in, and succeeds also in capturing more than once the precious wordless exchanges of intimacy that take place between seasoned couples.  We accompany her as she relives memories in “Riding the Waves at Rockaway” and “Camp Bugler.” In "Making Bread" she crams an astonishing world of experience into seven short lines, combining "child's paste," "wild god of yeast," and "risen belly" into an evocative whole that takes us suggestively beyond the bread that we can almost smell. Nature is everywhere in these poems, from the "tiny pink Dutch shoes" of the redbud tree, gone too soon, to the description of ravens’ hitting the ridges of a Palm trees “with a hard thunk, like marines on a mission.”  We hear echoes of history, as Buchwald reflects poignantly on her father’s enjoyment of I Love Lucy in his favorite chair, while never forgetting the language and customs he was forced to leave behind. The process of aging, what we keep, what we give up, is examined. Cutting back a household plant leads her to question what she might cut back about herself in order to "linger in sun and air."   Poet Connie Wanek has aptly described Buchwald's new collection as "spare and beautifully crafted," and poet Janisse Ray praises the "beguiling weave of experiences" they display. Writer/editor Emilio DeGrazia comments: “Emilie Buchwald gifts us a book radiant with heart, mind, and meaning." The poems in Incandescent are a testament to a life fully lived and appreciated.    Emilie Buchwald's book of poems, The Moment's Only Moment, received an IBPA Silver Benjamin Franklin Award. Her poems have been published in various journals, including Harper's, The American Scholar, American Quarterly, Kenyon Review, and The Lyric. Buchwald taught poetry at The Loft Literary Center, edited three poetry anthologies, and the Poetry Society of America's Wallace Steven Centenary Celebration. She is the author of A Milkweed Chronicle: The Formative Years of a Literary Nonprofit Press and the award-winning children's books, Gildaen, Floramel and Esteban, and Buddy Unchained. Buchwald was the cofounder and copublisher of the journal Milkweed Chronicle, before becoming the publisher of Milkweed Editions, editing or coediting more than two hundred books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction centered on social justice and the environment. Buchwald came out of retirement to found The Gryphon Press, which publishes children's picture books that create empathy for every animal life. Her awards include: The Lyric Memorial Award, The Kay Sexton Award, the McKnight Foundation Distinguished Artist of the Year Award, the A.P. Anderson Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.   "The luminous poems in Incandescent offer us brilliantly lit images from the great breadth of life, 'leavened with the wild god of yeast.' Many explore the moral and ethical questions of our age. They are spare and beautifully crafted. Yet they are also rich with soul-nourishing images and eternal themes. Among the poems in this book are some that will stick with you always, such as 'Motivation.' Here a bird spotted on a balcony, perched 'on the fake branch of a fake tree,' is nevertheless singing. Buchwald says, 'the perch may not matter/only the desire to sing.' " - Connie Wanek "In the deeply felt poems of Incandescent, Emilie Buchwald reveals a beguiling weave of experiences. The poems are rich in story, filled with the insights of a lifetime. With a quiet mastery of form, these poems don't shrink from the difficult even as they remind us of our innermost joys." - Janisse Ray "Emilie Buchwald gifts us a book radiant with heart, mind, and meaning. When I started reading the poems, they hooked me. Buchwald writes clearly, poetically, and accessibly. So many of these poems are very moving. From her carefully crafted words we discover many of the moments that are alive, important, and left unsaid in us." - Emilio DeGrazia