After Words

by Joyce Sutphen

AFTER WORDS, like First Words (Red Dragonfly Press, 2010), is both memoir and elegy, but the losses are more apparent in this volume, as the author knowingly celebrates lives that have ended and things that have nearly disappeared. The deaths of a sister, of beloved uncles, aunts, and grandparents happen in a world where the old homesteads are divided to build highways and new houses—and yet telling what it was like to live on one of those farms, to be caught in those ancient chores and rhythms, makes them lasting and beautiful.

Genres: Poetry

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 26, 2013

About the author

Joyce Sutphen (born 1949) is an American poet, currently serving as Minnesota's Poet Laureate. She is the state's second laureate, appointed by Governor Mark Dayton in August, 2011. Sutphen also serves as a professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota.

Reviews

[RH Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good honest poems about rural life and looking back by Minnesota's poet laureate. Familiar and lovable.