A poetry chapbook loosely inspired by The Farmer's Almanac. Why are we always slightly surprised when the weather changes? These poems reflect one poet's attempt to pay attention to the world outside her window. As a species, we share a mild obsession with weather and the secret belief that it is somehow reflective of our interior lives. There is a familiarity to that sense of relief when spring finally comes. We recognize a twinge of not-unpleasant sadness as sunlight thins out in the fall. The seasons become something we have a kind of faith in. Of course, as climate change progresses, we may lose the familiar patterns that we depend on. In the meantime, these poems use the weather as a way to talk about the 'seasons' of life. Birth, the loss of innocence, love and relationships, the creative process, aging: human seasons we all share, to complain about or exult in, like the weather.

Still Life With Weather

Literature & Fiction

Loughran, Marcia B.

Poetry

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

2nd Place Winner of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, 2020 Because everybody has a mother. And everybody's going to lose her. A collection of poems inspired by one woman's relationship with her mother, the chapbook My Mother Never Died Before and Other Poems sounds heavy, but lands light. The first half includes poems written after the mother's death. The poet focuses on the everyday, mundane details-what the funeral home visit was like, how birds felt like messages, the unexpected realities of life without one's mother. The second half pulls back the camera to include poems written before the death, which capture the ups and downs of the mother-child relationship. Wry humor and a companionable narrative style invite the reader in to one particular take on a universal story. "My Mother Never Died Before is a joyful read, full of surprises. Marcia B. Loughran shows her versatility and variety while bringing a welcome dose of humor to this collection, which is hard to pull off in poems about death. The many familiar scenes here-shopping for caskets, cleaning out papers after a parent has died, touching their intimate objects like breath mints and combs-are all painted with such clarity and reality." -Amy Miller, Contest Judge, 2020 "With the strength of language precise yet lyrical, odd but familiar, full of heart though refreshingly void of even a hint of the saccharine, Loughran has written a eulogy that would make any mother proud..."-Lissa Kiernan, Fou&#65279;nding Director of the Poetry Barn "The mother at the center of these poems emerges as someone who was witty, adventurous and, above all, kind. I found myself longing to sit in her yellow kitchen while making home-made Christmas ornaments over a cup of tea, with milk from a bone china jug."-Cusi Cram, Arts Professor, Tisch School of the Arts

My Mother Never Died Before: and Other Poems

Self-Help

Relationships

Poetry Box

If you grew up in America in the seventies, you grew up in the back of the car, squabbling with your siblings, fighting for the best seat, singing car songs. The littlest kids were thrown in the back-in-the-back, a private cockpit with a view of where you've been. Now we have iPhones and TVs in the car, but back then you had to entertain yourself: staring out the window, torturing your parents with endless knock-knock jokes, the occasional screaming contest. It wasn't pretty but it was fun, at least in this poet-passenger's rearview memory. This collection begins with poems inspired by her father, the family driver/chief storyteller. They capture aspects of the father-daughter relationship as well as the role reversal that takes place as child becomes adult and parent becomes "old." The second half of the chapbook takes to the open road: memories of family trips, a scrapbook of stories from a storytelling family. Unapologetically narrative in form, these poems pay homage to grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and the ancestors. The chapbook concludes with three mini-essays (messays) about car rides, family, and the possibilities of discovery when you're trapped next to a window with an ever-changing view.

Songs from the Back-in-the-Back

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Books by Loughran, Marcia B.