Published on
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN (October 10, 2003) - Finishing Line Press announces a new title:
This Brief Light. The poetry chapbook, part of Finishing Line Press' critically acclaimed
Chapbook Series, is by Grand Rapids author, Miriam Pederson.
The poems in This Brief Light consider the necessary changes time imposes on us all and the fears and joys that accompany these personal passages. One poem in the collection titled "More Light," contains the following lines which illustrate Pederson's way of voicing experience:
In this solstice time
we feel eternal.
an effortless short-sleeved ease
in leafy greens and friendly barbecues.
We own a sweet forgetfulness
that leaves will fall,
that sun will age our skin,
and that this light is ours
so briefly on this uncommon earth..
Grand Rapids' poet laureate Linda Nemec Foster says of this collection: "Miriam Pederson's poems are filled with pure, unadorned grace and honest, clear-eyed wisdom. With a simple yet elegant style, she takes life's ordinary moments and weaves them into luminescent images that have a haunting familiarity: in essence, she gives us our lives. Her language is natural and perfectly paced as it embraces joy and sorrow with equal and delicate measure. What a gift Miriam Pederson gives us in these poems that seem to hold entire universes in their quiet hands."
"Here is a treasure chest," says poet Judith Minty, "and inside are moments of the secret heart. These deeply moving poems remind us of what holds a family together through gain and loss. This poet celebrates life in its many facets. We trust her when she offers solace, when her words give reassurance that this world will remain right in its slow turning."
Miriam Pederson lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan where she is an Associate Professor of English at Aquinas College. Her poetry has been published widely in anthologies, journals and small press magazines including New Poems From the Third Coast: Contemporary Michigan Poetry (2000 anthol.), The MacGuffin, Milkweed Chronicle, Passages North, The Book of Birth Poetry (anthol.), Christianity and Literature, Sing, Heavenly Muse and Kalliope.
Finishing Line Press is a poetry publisher based in Cincinnati, Ohio and Georgetown, Kentucky. In addition to the Chapbook Series, it publishes the New Women's Voices Series.
This Brief Light is xxi pages, 6"X 9" size, soft-cover chapbook. Retail price is $12 (postage-paid if ordered directly from the publisher). The book is available by direct retail from Finishing Line Press, P.O. Box 1626, Georgetown, KY 40324. It will be carried by local bookstores upon release in mid-November 2003.
The poems in This Brief Light consider the necessary changes time imposes on us all and the fears and joys that accompany these personal passages. One poem in the collection titled "More Light," contains the following lines which illustrate Pederson's way of voicing experience:
In this solstice time
we feel eternal.
an effortless short-sleeved ease
in leafy greens and friendly barbecues.
We own a sweet forgetfulness
that leaves will fall,
that sun will age our skin,
and that this light is ours
so briefly on this uncommon earth..
Grand Rapids' poet laureate Linda Nemec Foster says of this collection: "Miriam Pederson's poems are filled with pure, unadorned grace and honest, clear-eyed wisdom. With a simple yet elegant style, she takes life's ordinary moments and weaves them into luminescent images that have a haunting familiarity: in essence, she gives us our lives. Her language is natural and perfectly paced as it embraces joy and sorrow with equal and delicate measure. What a gift Miriam Pederson gives us in these poems that seem to hold entire universes in their quiet hands."
"Here is a treasure chest," says poet Judith Minty, "and inside are moments of the secret heart. These deeply moving poems remind us of what holds a family together through gain and loss. This poet celebrates life in its many facets. We trust her when she offers solace, when her words give reassurance that this world will remain right in its slow turning."
Miriam Pederson lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan where she is an Associate Professor of English at Aquinas College. Her poetry has been published widely in anthologies, journals and small press magazines including New Poems From the Third Coast: Contemporary Michigan Poetry (2000 anthol.), The MacGuffin, Milkweed Chronicle, Passages North, The Book of Birth Poetry (anthol.), Christianity and Literature, Sing, Heavenly Muse and Kalliope.
Finishing Line Press is a poetry publisher based in Cincinnati, Ohio and Georgetown, Kentucky. In addition to the Chapbook Series, it publishes the New Women's Voices Series.
This Brief Light is xxi pages, 6"X 9" size, soft-cover chapbook. Retail price is $12 (postage-paid if ordered directly from the publisher). The book is available by direct retail from Finishing Line Press, P.O. Box 1626, Georgetown, KY 40324. It will be carried by local bookstores upon release in mid-November 2003.