Description
Out of Lethe
by Dan Cullimore
$14.99, paper
978-1-64662-145-3
2020
This chapbook was made possible in part by donations to the ONE LAST WORD Program. ONE LAST WORD helps to bring the last works of gifted poets to the world.
“A poet wants words,” Dan Cullimore writes in the first poem of this collection . . . “to carry home…useful as nuts.” A life-long resident of Central Missouri, Dan was a well-known advocate for neighbors and neighborhoods, for things that grow, for things that have been lovingly crafted, and for things that have stood the test of time. Less widely-known, except among a small circle of friends, is his skill as poet, shown here for the first time. Each poem is reflectively crafted from the materials at hand—clay, mud, rain, reflections, flowers, people. They carry his voice and his eye and ear for the unique, the long-lived, and the hand made.
Jeff Belden (verified owner) –
Dan Cullimore, the author of the poem “Glossolalia”, during his life, was a member of my men’s group that has met twice a month for more than two decades, often around an outdoor fire, to vulnerably share our authentic selves.
“Glossolalia” evokes the scene and the senses of sitting around the fire in an ancient, personal ritual. The hoped-for healing comes from being filled by
“the grists of grief and joy”.
One imagines the dancing light of the fire where
“In this crucible
of words and light,
each man talking,”
we share stories to lighten our burdens of brokenness, hoping to find that wholeness we bring but can’t always see. “It is this vessel for which they’ve come.”
Visceral and descriptive, he evokes the ancient rhythms of being fed by sharing secrets.