AND YET by Rita Coleman

Rita Coleman senses “the wild rumble of sky/ and earth before it rattles the bones of the living.” She sees human beings as “tribes of stars . . .  in the blue knowing.” She challenges the mythical Narcissus to find “mirrored passion . . . rather than the shallow reflection of his face in a pond.”  Her spare and surprising lines bring sunshine into the depth of our existence.

–David Lee Garrison, Author of Playing Bach in the DC Metro

And Yet, Rita Coleman’s second book of poetry, weaves tapestry of an examined life, “The smooth laying down of face and soul,/ the deep weave of length and breadth,// A rhythm unpatterned, random and perfect,// not yet done, a continuous beyond.” Through a juxtaposition of inner and outer spaces, the play of light and water, domestic and natural scenes, these poems explore the paradox of the nature of time, generational connections and the lives we lead inside our minds and on this earth. “Aren’t we just a tribe of stars/ flying, slithering, galloping, clawing…?” she asks. “Take a chance. Dive in the light year, swim in the swirl…” Readers will be all the better for it.

–Pauletta Hansel, Cincinnati Poet Laureate, Author of Tangle