Thresholds

by Glenna Cook

"Readers of the book Thresholds will experience what Glenna Cook calls 'the good purpose, ' the intention of poems meaningfully conflicted between fierce moments and tender moments that compose a life. In all her wisdom and experience, she still struggles to answer questions about love, devotion, loneliness and 'this grandeur of the universe.' These carefully constructed poems share childhood pains and shames. Like any poet, Cook plays subordinate to language: 'I'm sorry/about my words./I try to keep them in/behind their white picket fence, /but they get out when I least expect it.'"
--Allen Braden, author of A Wreath of Down and Drops of Blood: Poems

"Glenna Cook's debut poetry collection explores the family photo album as a threshold of narratives, memories, secrets, wishes, silences--and absences. From a 1940s childhood and a mother pregnant with the knowledge of her child's Downs Syndrome; to an adulthood elegy for a brother who died before she was born; to a poignant sequence entitled Wake to December (in part, exploring her son's death from cancer), Cook is unafraid of life's refrain of pain and sorrow. Yet, despite the exploration of death and loss--the collection's abiding refrain
is faith: faith in the redemptive power of love, joy, and above all--hope. These poems are love poems of endurance and survival, which seek to answer the question: how do we find a language for what leaves us wordless?"
--Rommi Smith, poet and playwright

Genres: Poetry

164 pages, Paperback

Published June 19, 2017

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author collects moments from her 80+ year life in poems, storing them up and building the narrative of her life as if each poem is another stroke of a brush creating the autobiographical whole. The effect is moving and significant. Through this collection we experience a life first-hand: a childhood in the 1940s, a marriage that is equally imperfect and cherished, and the overlapping arcs of generations. We see Glenna's parents' gradual change from strong, unflappable youth to old age and death, Glenna's life-long struggle as the caretaker of a sister whose need for Glenna was a defining aspect of much of her life, and the birth, life, and death of her firstborn son.

Readers will connect personally with the wild, hopeful child picking blackberries in the woods, and later with the reflective octogenarian, still wandering those same forests, remembering those who have crossed the threshold, attempting to keep them alive within the ink and paper of her poems.

[Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be too simple to describe Thresholds, the first full-length collection by octogenarian poet Glenna Cook, as inspiring. Instead, readers are pushed to think and reflect on times when they had to laugh even through pain. Glenna Cook’s keen observations of human nature often show a wry humor reminiscent of Colette. Her poems eloquently tell stories of loving tenacity in life’s beautiful and difficult moments.

[Kat Temple · Rating 4 out of 5]

A personal book of poetry that walks through Glenna’s personal life story. Poems of love and grief for her son and a feeling of sadness for a marriage that doesn’t quite feel triumphant and fulfilling. So very raw and true that many poems left me teary, and many mentions of cities and familiar landmarks, as I am a Washington native as well, which made me smile. I enjoyed it.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt poetry written over decades of a life well-lived, Glenna's work is a gem and needed. In her 80's now, she shares an honest, fresh perspective as a woman who married young though did not play the average role as she raised her children and, finally, went to college in her 50's. Beautiful, many will find her words and narratives poignant and speaking to their own lives.