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Midnight River
Selected as winner of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies 2015 Stevens Manuscript Competition by Bruce Dethlefsen, Wisconsin Poet Laureate (2011-2012).
90 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 4, 2016
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March 9, 2017Reactions to Midnight River from fellow writers (added here by author Laura L. Hansen):
“crush a wild raspberry / between your fingertips / you are bleeding”
Read the poems in MIDNIGHT RIVER and you are awake with wolf, owl, leaf, raindrop, abandoned cabin, underwater voices and all the songs of the natural world. - Diane Glancy
Laura Hansen’s poems leave one with images of loss—a bumpy sidewalk outside a mother’s nursing home, a pool cue like a fallen branch next to the cue ball, a little cousin drawn by a voice into the watery depths of a quarry. But Hansen finds strength in the things that wound her: “What holds me together is the weight / of the attic with its burden / of ladies’ hats and boxes of too-wide ties.” In that attic is her heritage. There’s balm in these poems. Cedar waxwings eating over-wintered berries in a tree give to the watcher “the gift of belief,” and when Hansen describes the grooming motions of rabbits, she could be talking about the healing power of poetry itself: “Each movement slow and measured, / each caress a lesson in how to take care / of ourselves, how to show ourselves / love like nothing else can.”
Donna Salli, author of A Notion of Pelicans, on Midnight River by Laura Hansen
"Laura Hansen is an observer—of wheelchairs, wild raspberries, jagged winter ice. Her poems whisper their awe of nature, examine heartfelt memories, bring solace in loss. Perfectly crafted, this book shares the secret midnight river of a well-lived life.” - "Midnight River is a gift, each poem a perfectly wrapped package of observations, memories, and truth.” - Kathryn Kysar, poet
In the poems of Midnight River, Laura Hansen is a watchful curator of a past that is always present. The human stories told here, or hinted at, are set off by a closely observed natural world of leaf and wing and bristling fur, and the undercurrent of moving water. Nature is sensual and full of surprises; it is also frightening, a mix of beauty and menace. Abandoned cabins testify to lives long gone, but somehow close to our own. The message is always,
You and I live
in the same place
Laura Hansen is a Gary Snyder for the landscape of the Upper Midwest. She is an observer of
the raindrops, not
the rain
She is a poet to be celebrated, and this powerful collection is one to be kept close.
Timothy Mason, author and playwright
"Laura Hansen's poetry is sensitive and sensuous, rich in the understanding of nature and of our own human nature--which are bound together in the most beautiful and mysterious of ways. Reading it is like coming home."
Douglas Wood, Paddle Whispers, Old Turtle, Grandad’s Prayers for the Earth
“crush a wild raspberry / between your fingertips / you are bleeding”
Read the poems in MIDNIGHT RIVER and you are awake with wolf, owl, leaf, raindrop, abandoned cabin, underwater voices and all the songs of the natural world. - Diane Glancy
Laura Hansen’s poems leave one with images of loss—a bumpy sidewalk outside a mother’s nursing home, a pool cue like a fallen branch next to the cue ball, a little cousin drawn by a voice into the watery depths of a quarry. But Hansen finds strength in the things that wound her: “What holds me together is the weight / of the attic with its burden / of ladies’ hats and boxes of too-wide ties.” In that attic is her heritage. There’s balm in these poems. Cedar waxwings eating over-wintered berries in a tree give to the watcher “the gift of belief,” and when Hansen describes the grooming motions of rabbits, she could be talking about the healing power of poetry itself: “Each movement slow and measured, / each caress a lesson in how to take care / of ourselves, how to show ourselves / love like nothing else can.”
Donna Salli, author of A Notion of Pelicans, on Midnight River by Laura Hansen
"Laura Hansen is an observer—of wheelchairs, wild raspberries, jagged winter ice. Her poems whisper their awe of nature, examine heartfelt memories, bring solace in loss. Perfectly crafted, this book shares the secret midnight river of a well-lived life.” - "Midnight River is a gift, each poem a perfectly wrapped package of observations, memories, and truth.” - Kathryn Kysar, poet
In the poems of Midnight River, Laura Hansen is a watchful curator of a past that is always present. The human stories told here, or hinted at, are set off by a closely observed natural world of leaf and wing and bristling fur, and the undercurrent of moving water. Nature is sensual and full of surprises; it is also frightening, a mix of beauty and menace. Abandoned cabins testify to lives long gone, but somehow close to our own. The message is always,
You and I live
in the same place
Laura Hansen is a Gary Snyder for the landscape of the Upper Midwest. She is an observer of
the raindrops, not
the rain
She is a poet to be celebrated, and this powerful collection is one to be kept close.
Timothy Mason, author and playwright
"Laura Hansen's poetry is sensitive and sensuous, rich in the understanding of nature and of our own human nature--which are bound together in the most beautiful and mysterious of ways. Reading it is like coming home."
Douglas Wood, Paddle Whispers, Old Turtle, Grandad’s Prayers for the Earth
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August 1, 2019Ms. Hansen. You Rock. Thank you for your vision.
December 31, 2016
This volume of poetry is a real gem! Laura's writing is evocative and filled with common experiences she describes in moving ways. I relished this book, reading it slowly and savoring the words and stories chosen.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews