THE TOSSING DREAM by Jade Rosina McCutcheon

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Short lines, syncopated rhythms. These unrhymed, unmetered lyric poems give pleasure akin to that of rhymed, metrical verse. And they are full of intense color, reminiscent of Fauvist and Expressionist canvases. They create an experience of synesthesia: sounds have color, color and light have sound. They reflect a deep sense of connection to non-human fellow creatures and to the earth we share with them. And they find light in the least likely places. Indeed, though some of the subjects are dark—a mother’s last days, difficulties of a brother far away, wildfire and other (un-)natural disasters, pandemic and related societal ills, mental malaise—the overall tone is light. When a screaming bark wakes the poet in the small hours, she joshes the culprit, a red fox, “Did you sign up / for that piercing scream / or was it just / the luck of the draw?” Addressing her brother, “earth weary old man / silver bright mind / on old giraffe knees,” the poet urges him, “Be light / upon yourself / be light / unto yourself.”

–Eleanor Berry, A former teacher of writing and literature at Willamette University, Marquette University, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, she is 2014-2016 President of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies and a past president of the Oregon Poetry Association. Her poetry has appeared widely in journals and anthologies. Author of Works of Wildfire and three earlier poetry collections.