"My poems are written by a spirit on a stone"

www.reddragonflypress.org

"My poems are written by a spirit on a stone." So begins the first poem in this exquisite little book. 

If you're not familiar with Freya Manfred's poetry, this book is an excellent place to begin. If you are familiar with her poetry, add this to your collection. Reading it is a deep and rich experience. She is close to nature, to people and to self. Read the poems out loud. Take them with you. Sneak looks when you're supposed to be listening to a professor or a friend. Sit in a park, sniff the air, watch birds. "I was married here by Eagle Rock," she says in "Blue Mound, Luverne, Minnesota", the last poem in the book; "Before that I ran away to write poems." I understand that well. Seated at my desk in Sapporo, Japan, I smell the fragrant air as it blows across Blue Mound and recall the times when I stood by Eagle Rock and dreamed. "Swimming With a Hundred Year Old Snapping Turtle" is a treasure.

"Swimming With a Hundred Year Old Snapping Turtle" is available from Red Dragonfly Press, Northfield, Minnesota, www.reddragonflypress.org.