Riding Waves

by Kathryn Jordan

40 pages, Paperback

Published February 23, 2018

Reviews

[Rita Dragonette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short book of exquisitely arranged words and phrases is actually a novel in poetry of a harrowing coming of age that begins during the Vietnam War in confusion and betrayal. A mother who shouldn’t have been left by not one but two husbands whose duty lay with country over family, who was too fragile not to understand that children are listening….The opening poem took my breath so violently I had to pause before I read on. I’ve written a book about a teenage character during the same time, grappling with issues beyond her maturity, but Riding Waves takes it to a younger, and therefore more harrowing level, where the logic of childhood is altered beyond repair. The impact of war is long and hard and ripples in waves that extend very far before they blend into the larger body of a life. This is a tough, beautiful book that documents a journey where the waves are high, hard and relentless, where the scars of childhood exposure to issues beyond comprehension keeps nerve endings eternally raw and bring us images of painful beauty. A difficult life turned into spectacular art, a feat accomplished by only the most gifted of artists. Do not miss this. You will be profoundly moved.