Loss and Invention by Ann Gengarelly

$22.99

 

Ann Gengarelly is a messenger between the material and immaterial worlds. She reports back to us that there are devastating damages in the past both personal and historical that call for a reckoning, and there are gorgeous transformative powers in the present that call for our attention. She is alert to the “calculus of time”. She is unafraid. Her approach is to be alert and alive to indwelling as a spiritual practice of god listening. The poems reveal devoted attention and mindfulness whether she is writing about the resilience of the willow or Cordelia’s lament from King Lear. The flower for Ann Gengarelly is a trigger. In that way she is an anthologist, that is from the anthers of flowers comes a way of entering into the world of blossom and abundance as a necessary counterweight to the difficult world.”

–Bruce Smith, professor, Syracuse University MFA Program and author of Devotions

 

“The beautiful poems in Loss and Invention sing of persistence and survival, the mysteries of the garden, the healing that awaits in the natural world. Guided by the seasons, haunted by ancestral ghosts, Ann Gengarelly takes us on an intimate journey through a northern landscape, balancing light and shadow, grief and love. Despite unspeakable sorrow, her speakers find kinship with trees and listen to “the music of snow.” They get close to the earth and its plants and animals, explore motherhood and daughterhood with a wisdom grounded in attention. Gengarelly is a poet who understands “the wordless language of hummingbirds.” I loved this courageous, hopeful book.”

–Diana Whitney, editor & book coach, author of Dark Beds

 

“From its title joining “Loss and Invention,” Ann Gengarelly‘s poetry collection meets both sorrowful and mystical struggles with clear-eyed, eloquent acceptance. While the poems often contain unanswerable questions, they also insist on turning toward the consoling transformations of the natural world—such as those impressionistically rendered as “the talk of trees” and fog “slow-dancing above the pond.” Even as she includes the reader with generous tenderness as “part of the caravan of the wounded,” Gengarelly reminds us to “reclaim our roots of embracing/both darkand light.”

–Elizabeth Rosner, author of three novels and a poetry collection; most recently the author of Survivor Café: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Description

Loss and Invention

by Ann Gengarelly

Full-length, Paper

 List: $22.99

979-8-88838-752-8

2024

Loss and Invention is a compelling journey of transformation.  While the poetry bears witness to the pain of loss, both personal and universal, it equally uncovers resilience and solace in the natural world.  With devoted attention to trees, the visitation from bears, wild turkeys, ravens…who reveal the Mysteries, the poems embody wisdom and offer signposts to discover light. As we travel with the words, we find ourselves at junctures where new languages must be invented, and we hear pleas for healing, both for the poet and for the beggar along the road; as well as Mother and Father. Finally, arriving at “a pond in dark forests,” we can now “trust what we see:” and welcome our “own reflections.”

Ann Gengarelly, since 1980, has been a poet-in-the schools throughout Southeastern Vermont and neighboring Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Ann is Director of The Poetry Studio at her home in Marlboro, Vermont, where she offers after-school and summer classes for students (ages 6-17). Since 2002, Ann has taught adult creative writing classes in The Studio as well.

Ann holds an MA degree from Goddard College in creativity and education with an emphasis on poetry-in-the schools. In 1988 she received an honorary Doctorate for Teaching Excellence from Marlboro College. For seven years Ann was a Faculty Associate at Hampshire College. She has been a consultant for the Integrated Day Program at the University of Massachusetts. With an emphasis on poetry she has designed and presented professional development workshops for teachers at Lesley University, Bank Street College and the Antioch, NE, Graduate School of Education.

She has published in numerous professional journals ranging from Teachers and Writers Magazine to The Elementary School Journal (University of Chicago Press). She is the co-author with her husband Tony of Another World: Poetry and Art by Young People from The Poetry Studio (Luminare press, 2021).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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