My Brother In Common Time by Deborah Kroman

“In these deftly controlled poems, Deborah Kroman takes the measure of grief and creates a book of wonder and, ultimately, gratitude. My Brother in Common Time is a poignant collection; from the depths and darkness of losing a brother in a childhood drowning, Kroman explores how the affinities of love and art buoy us up and carry us ashore. Tender, wise, and memorable.”

–Michelle Boisseau, author of Writing Poems

“In Deborah Kroman‘s beautifully crafted poems, the stillness of the natural world is her background for the acceptance of human loss. Among her many lessons, the poet teaches us that the tender, true center of love is always forgiveness. How she does it is a quiet wonder.”

–Catherine Anderson, author of The Work of Hands and In the Mother Tongue

 
“Deborah Kroman‘s entry poem sets the stage. Her family is seated on their “Screened-in Porch.” “We laughed and grief lifted as high as the white planks overhead” gives vision to the contained grief of a family after the poet’s young brother drowned. In the following poems images reveal the reality that there is no ceiling high enough to contain loss; the common thread that bonds the readers to each poem and embraces the author’s loss and the loss of others. Executed with strong line endings and words, Kroman releases the reader by introducing them to nature and art and a line that bridges closure, “May a song rise up and carry you over deep water.” Travel across this poet’s land and water and find protection in her compassionate delivery in poetry.”

–Judith Bader Jones, author of Moon Flowers on the Fence and The Language of Small Rooms

Rating: *****  [5 of 5 Stars!]