flightpaths

by Heidi Greco

On the 120th anniversary of Amelia Earhart's birth and the 80th anniversary of her disappearance, award-winning poet, Heidi Greco revitalizes what we know about the iconic aviator through uplifting and historically mesmerizing verse.
If most people were asked what they know about Amelia Earhart, they'd probably respond with something like "Wasn't she that pilot who went missing when she tried to fly around the world?"

Although that much is true, Earhart was so much more. She was a feminist at a time when women were just beginning to make inroads towards equality. She was a best-selling author who made appearances and speeches that inspired many. In addition, she was a pacifist, a poet, a punster – the list could go on. She was ahead of her time in so many ways, right down to the no-nonsense clothes she wore (many of them fashioned after her own designs).

To this day, her disappearance is enshrouded in mystery, with many questions remaining. Was she on a secret mission, spying for her country? Was she captured by the Japanese and held in a prison camp? Or did she and her navigator simply crash and die?
The poems in this collection, presented as if written by Earhart herself, consider some of the many theories that attempt to explain her disappearance. Through logbook entries, recollections and letters, the work explores some of the various flightpaths she may have taken.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published June 15, 2017

About the author

After moving around quite a lot, I settled on Canada's West Coast in 1970. While studying at university (more than one), I had a few poems published, but then abandoned writing for just about 20 years.
I'm glad I came back, and can't imagine not writing ever again (they'll have to pry the pen out of my hand at the end, I am sure).
My books have mostly been collections of poetry, though a novella, Shrinking Violets snuck its way onto the list in 2011.
Now, ten years later, my newest book, Glorious Birds is here. It isn't poetry or even fiction, but personal musings on one of my all-time favourite films, Harold and Maude. Yes, I did a bunch of research, so I've included plenty of info about the screenwriter, the director, some of the actors, and the music. Mostly, it's a love song to, as Mary (in There's Something About Mary) calls it, "the greatest love story ever!"

Reviews

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a pleasure to read this book! I didn't know much about Amelia Earhart when I started reading flightpaths, except that she was the first woman pilot to cross the Atlantic, and that on an attempt to fly around the world she, her plane, and her navigator disappeared and have never been found. What Heidi Greco does in this book is create poetry that reads like scenes from a novel. I felt like I was inside Amelia Earhart's head, listening to her thoughts, her humour, her regrets for succumbing to pressure from her husband to doll herself up for publicity photographs when all she wanted to do was fly. I learned that Earhart had lovers, a child given up at birth, a son who disappointed her, a marriage that from the start both parties agreed might not get off the ground. In other words, a complex woman who had regrets, tremendous courage, and not a whit of self-pity. Blending fact and fiction, Greco brings to life several of the different theories about what happened to Earhart after her plane went down in the Pacific Ocean. What is remarkable is that she realizes each of these so believably that I moved from one scene, one poem, to another without any concern that the theories contradicted each other. Don't miss this one!

[Jim Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! Since today (July 2, 2017) marks 80 years since Amelia Earhart disappeared without a trace over the Pacific Ocean, I proceeded to read this prose-poetry composition by Heidi Greco subtitled "The Lost Journals of Amelia Earhart". Ms. Greco's poems are interspersed with fictional journal-like entries of Amelia's last days on a bit of an island that she thought was Howland Island, her intended destination. Or was she captured by the Japanese? This theory is explored too in Flightpaths. I can almost imagine these poems as lyrics to a type of concept album recording. Alan Parsons Project, anyone?
Full review is here: http://bit.ly/flightpaths

[Anne McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breath taking and heart rending. The research behind this beautiful work moves Amelia Earhart back into life, beyond myth and beyond legend.

[Degan Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this tribute to Amelia Earhart and the exercise of staying with her through the imagined last lonely days. I didn’t love all of the poems individually but it works as a collection. I both enjoyed it and learned a lot.