ALWAYS by Catherine Jontos Putnam

Always by Catherine Jontos Putnam uses memory and awareness to connect the ordinary details of daily ritual to the author’s vision of “the luminous.” Inspired by the untamed earth and wildlife nearby, Putnam’s words reflect the awe she feels for the world around her.

Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen says, “”These poems journey out of a Catholic childhood’s ‘blue vigil candles’ into a secular yet sacred world where each of us is beckoned to ‘look in the mirror / lament for what was / and bless what you see.’ With a pantheistic lyricism, Cathy Jontos Putnam watches her breath ‘sing like fish;’ she rejoices in being ‘dazed by the blank sky / over the starry world.’””