INSIDE OLLI -
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Editor’s Note: Have you ever wondered what goes on in some of our OLLI writing courses? Or in the Poetry Interest Group that meets twice a month on Wednesdays?
This book review by Elsa Fernandez will give you a partial answer to those questions. OLLI member Angie Minkin is one of the featured poets in this book. 16 of her poems are published in the book. Angie says she wandered into an OLLI poetry class a couple of years ago, shortly after retiring from her work, and was hooked. Angie led our Poetry Interest Group for over a year . Frequent OLLI Instructor Diane Frank edited this anthology. Diane serves as Chief Editor for Blue Light Press, the publisher of this book. Diane will be teaching one of our courses via Zoom this Fall: Writers on Writing. It will be online for 6 weeks on Mondays at 12:30 pm from Oct. 12 to Nov. 16. |
I heard about this book and could not wait to read it. Dreams and Blessings from six visionary poets—writers whom I have read and even had the pleasure of meeting some of them. But what excited me was to read the name of a friend—someone I met at one of OLLI’s Poetry Writing classes—Angie Minkin—whose poetry I have admired and enjoyed for several years. She is on the Editorial Board of Vistas and Byways Literary Review. Angie has published extensively—in V&B, The Pangolin Review, Birdland Journal, and various anthologies. Angie earned an Honorable Mention in the 2019 Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition in the Prose Poetry and Poetry categories.
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Her poetry is beautiful—those who have read her words could never disagree. There is a wisdom in what she observes and writes. But what I find especially moving are her ties and spiritual connections to the Mayan beliefs in the place that might very well be her second home—Oaxaca. There is a respect and reverence for the culture and traditions. In “Ancient Rains,” she takes me with her on a search for the cenote, her trepidation when she goes deep into a sunless cavern with her husband to reach the bottom “into the rains of a thousand summers” where “Tiny fish flash like cyan stars.” They embrace:
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We kiss, clinging to dark mangrove roots
tangled at the cavern’s indigo edge Drift back to center in turquoise-clear water, Lift our eyes to the empty sky. We bind our bodies in a sunlit Mayan cross. |
In “La Reina,” the poet brings a dignity and majesty to humbler lives and a memorable beauty to the harsh reality of daily living for those who have so little in environments that are harsh.
“Havana Never Sleeps”—from the opening line to the closing line, the images and sounds never stop. The music and dancing never stop. The movement of life never stops.
“Havana Never Sleeps”—from the opening line to the closing line, the images and sounds never stop. The music and dancing never stop. The movement of life never stops.
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Hands and hips pulse with snare drums
and the sharp, syncopated Afro-Cuban beat. Our tight American bodies melt And we mambo into Cuban dreams. |
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There are sixteen poems from Angie in this anthology—but there is one that tugs at me emotionally—“Old Lovers in an Older House.” Memories abound in shared lives, family raised together, a house that grows old with them.
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We’ve been lovers for forty years.
We still dance slow. Life moves so fast. **************** We’re aging fast now-- those steep steps stare us down. Is that the shadow of a pale horse? You beat the drum. I’ll burn more sage. |
I highly recommend this book and encourage you to read Angie’s work as well as that of the other talented poets. The book is available on Amazon.com.
Angie Minkin
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Diane Frank
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