Other than “I really like them,” no truer, simpler words can be used to describe my reaction (so far) to Peggy Carr’s collection of poems in Honey and Lime. Her poems speak to me and my experiences. And, I’m sure they’ll speak to many of you too.
If you’ve ever undergone the trauma of moving from one residence, country, career--any major change from the familiar to the unfamiliar or strange--you’ll recognize the aching truth in lines like--
Once again I tear pieces
off my self
trying to unglue from
one more place...
Or maybe you’ve been daunted by the seeming insurmountable uncertainty of a journey, as the speaker of the following lines appears to be:
dust only
in the distanceno destination
yet
I must take me to
completion
to transition
whole
undefiled
If your children are at the stage where they’re moving on to college, or close to it, or far from it, but you have panicked (many times) at how quickly time flies, you’ll empathize with this speaker/parent:
college brochures
airline schedules
stream excitedly through his
newly competent handsI’m left stranded
on a tiny patch of time
still reaching
to wipe the cereal from his smile
And maybe you’ve experienced (or soon will) this speaker’s generational / parental angst. The speaker addresses his or her mother--
Isn’t it strange how
I no longer fit
on your lap
. . .and some days
I slide sickeningly
again and again
down your old
disappointmentsIt’s watching my daughter
grow up
that does it
One of my goals in this Caribbean Women Writers Series is to share the first works of the writers to be featured, but unfortunately I couldn’t find a copy of Peggy Carr’s first
(Echoes from a Lonely Nightwatch, 1989), nor her second (Fresh Tracks in an Ancient Land, 1996). Honey and Lime (2006) is her third collection, and I’m happy to share it with you.
Read a review of Echoes from a Lonely Nightwatch here at Caribbean Writer.
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Coming Monday: My review of Peggy Carr's Honey and Lime.
