Swamp Baby by Dorothy Brooks

“In this, her first collection, Dorothy Brooks transcends the swamp baby/change-ling origins of the title poem and plumbs the nuanced moment with alertness and intelligence portended by that special birth. She sees and hears her way into things—not surprising given her experience as a musician and painter—and explores with empathy not only the human realm including her self as other, widowers, small children, farm wives, exchange students, but also the animal kingdom where a dying mouse’s thirst is rendered with tenderness and an accusing gaze, and blue jays are “wet T-shirt wild.” From backyard Michigan to 1960s Vienna we are moved, from Africa to an American southwest shimmering “in new minted brightness.” At every turn, there is a rhythm and feel for this lived life as “smooth as a heron’s glide.” And at the core of every poem, there is Brooks’ wonder and joy.”

–Dennis Hinrichsen, Professor, English Department,Lansing Community College, Lansing, MI [latest book, Rip-Tooth, University of Tampa Press, 2011]

“In the first poem of this collection, we are told that for the “swamp baby” changeling, there was a “continual rocking –/a wordless creak/as rhythmic/ as a muted crying pulse.” That motion persists throughout the collection rocking the reader from the 1960’s to the present, from Navajo country to Nairobi, from spring to winter, from the minutely described exterior world to the wordless presentiments of the interior one. We go “eye to eye” with the cruelties of human nature, yet we can also find unbridled joy in watching the blood of summer beets splatter into the kitchen sink. There is definitely a poetic pulse here, and it’s thumping away.”

–Dr. Anita Skeen, Director, the Center for Poetry, Arts Coordinator, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI [latest book: Never the Whole Story,
Michigan State University Press, 2011]

“Wanting to know more about this swamp baby, this “change-ling,” I eagerly dove in to learn more about this “infant/ drowsing at the edge/ of a deep swamp.” The seasons unfold with the “Smell of spring/ reeds” and “green springs, high/ on the prospect/ of summer.” Dorothy Brooks takes us on this journey from a “tiny feathered blur” to “cardinals/ with perfect pitch.” Rich with images of nature, with “flame geysers crackling/ yellows” and the whirr of insects and shrilling crows, this chapbook is full of the music of place, color, sound and a sense of the continuity of it all.”

–Carol V. Davis, Adjunct Professor, English Department, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA [latest book: Between Storms, Truman State University Press 2012]

Rating:  ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]