Wild Grape Jelly Sky, White Stars by Nancy H. Johanson

With candor and a generous spirit, Wild Grape Jelly Sky, White Stars explores the deepest recesses of belonging in an original way. I so admire Nancy Heuck Johanson‘s playful and lucid poet’s eye. It witnesses what we might overlook or take for granted. In this sense, it’s not just her journey or her discoveries alone. She makes them ours. Whether we choose to savor the abundant lyricism or experience the unearthing of a spirituality in these poems, Johanson invites us to return to them-constantly-and be moved.

–Jeffrey Hillard, poet, novelist, and Associate Professor of English at Mount St. Joseph University

In a meditative East meets West fashion, Nancy Heuck Johanson takes us on a journey to the “mystery waiting at the center.” My favorite poem in this collection is every poem. Luscious language and surprising images-sometimes dramatic and tragic- abound in this book along with a Zen quality that fully engages you. This book might or might not change your life, but it will help you see in a clearer and more unique way.

–Jerry Judge, author of Luna Moth and Writing at the Waffle House

Nancy Johanson‘s courageously gentle sensibility leads us under an archway of leaves and light into a reassurance that the flickering life of the spirit is always, has ever been, as real as rock; that the rib of a water lily leaf we stop to truly see is both a way into this world and a road home into the mysteries of our own being. Patiently tracking the ecstatic beautiful into its home in the ordinary hour, these poems befriend and comfort, and humbly, by quiet example, beseech us not to miss the one life we are given. As in the lovely title piece, they lift the tent flap in the night (what strength and grace this sometimes asks!) to shine the light of hope “for those who journey/ from anywhere/ to here and back.”

–Ann Stapleton, M.A. poet, freelance writer, and mentor.