Dropping Sunrises in a Jar by Melinda Thomsen

$17.99

 

I love that poet-philosopher Melinda Thomsen has turned her wise but uncynical eye and voice towards the tragedy of climate change. Thomsen writes, “I wake to the sky’s daily burning/in these—my sunset—years to collect sunrises…like candles gathered from my forgiving earth… But this burning keeps flushing out the birds…” Thomsen writes extensively of birds, those things with feathers, to give us what I love best in eco poetry, hope-punk. But, sad and knowing as her poems often are, Thomsen can’t help but bring her child-like wonder to the world, and for that I am grateful.

–ELIZABETH J. COLEMAN, editor of Here: Poems for the Planet, Copper Canyon Press, 2019

 

In Dropping Sunrises in a Jar, Thomsen skillfully highlights and juxtaposes the cyclical nature and beauty of sunrises and the corresponding splendor and chaos of local fauna, flora, as well as man made technologies. From mynas in Maui, bridges in New York City, construction in Prague, to warblers in Maine, Thomsen’s celebration of origins and beginnings cleverly serves as an homage to rebirth, routine, and hope.

–JOSE HERNANDEZ DIAZ, author of The Fire Eater, Bad Mexican, Bad American, and The Parachutist

 

 

 

Category:

Description

Dropping Sunrises in a Jar

by Melinda Thomsen

Paper

List: $17.99

979-8-88838-601-9

2024

Each poem in Dropping Sunrises in a Jar began as a way to understand why birds appear so happy at sunrise. Written from notes spanning over twenty years, Dropping Sunrises in a Jar glimpses nature’s inner workings of joy.  In free verse and form poems, sunrises from across the globe are depicted in a variety of awakening colors and sounds. Poems recount the morning opera from locations like a sleeping car on a train going to Beijing to construction crane noise in Prague, the cooing of doves in North Carolina, and canyon towhees in Arizona. By organizing the poems into three sections:  I’ll tell you how the Sun rose, A Ribbon at a time, and The Steeples swam in Amethyst, the readers ultimately find themselves gently released back into their world with signs of hope.

Melinda Thomsen’s Armature from Hermit Feathers Press (2021) was a finalist for the 2022 Eric Hoffer da Vinci Eye award and an honorable mention in the 2019 Lena Shull Poetry Contest from NC Poetry Society.  Her books Field Rations (2011) and Naming Rights (2007) are also from Finishing Line Press, and her latest poems can be found in Salamander Magazine, Artemis Journal, THEMA, The Ekphrastic Review, Poetry Miscellany, The New York Quarterly, and Poetry Quarterly, among others.  A 2023 Randall Jarrell Poetry Contest Honorable Mention,  2019 Pushcart Nominee from The Comstock Review, and a Semi-Finalist in the 2004 “Discovery” / The Nation poetry contest, she’s an advisory editor for Tar River Poetry and current Vice President of Programming for the North Carolina Poetry Society.  A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, she received her MA in English from The City College, CUNY, and MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.  She is the Writing Center Coordinator for the John Paul II Catholic School and lives in North Carolina with her husband Hunt, two cats, and one chicken.

 

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “Dropping Sunrises in a Jar by Melinda Thomsen”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *