Almost the Rowboat by Kathleen McClung

“This excellent collection offers many succinct glimpses of deeply lived lives. In verse both formal and free, these poems explore the small moments that illuminate even the most seemingly ordinary of experiences, capturing their particularities and gentle ironies and inviting readers to ponder the larger stories and even more urgent questions those unassuming moments suggest. In addition to a fine ear and a discerning eye, Kathleen McClung has a steady and penetrating heart.”

–Jean Hegland, author of Into the Forest, Windfalls, and The Life Within: Celebration of a Pregnancy

“What pleasure to see the world through the eyes of Kathleen McClung. These moving, spirited poems remind us to pay attention–to a neighbor unloading groceries, to frogs and great blue herons, to a young girl on break from work–so that we too can see “what breathes beneath the veils/our tribe creates.” With wry humor and lyrical language, McClung’s poems take us down I-80 and Highway 1, down back roads and into back alleys, all the while “praising earth and where we’ve flown” In free verse, sonnets and sestinas, McClung chronicles the unexpected gifts of family, loss, and late love with sure-footed grace.”

–Holly J. Hughes, author of The Pen & the Bell: Mindful Writing in a Busy World; editor of Beyond Forgetting: Poems and Prose about Alzheimer’s Disease

“Reading Kathleen McClung is like pondering a painting–a good one–that’s not quite abstract, not quite not–and feeling it as much as knowing it. Her poems are several things twined: music, memory, facet upon facet, the lessons of a perceptive eye. If you’re after fresh, evocative poetry, read McClung.”

–Lauren Wolk, Associate Director, Cultural Center of Cape Cod; author of Those Who Favor Fire; poet, novelist, assemblage artist

Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]