Necessary Light

by Patricia Fargnoli, Mary Oliver (Foreword)

"Readers will discover many facets of Fargnoli's voice . . . but I think the two attributes that will most impress readers are, first, the almost shimmering gladness with which Ms. Fargnoli replies to the gifts of beauty and of human love; and, second, the compassion with which she addresses whatever is beyond her own intimate surroundings. Whatever it costs her, whatever it takes, there seems to be for Ms. Fargnoli only one world and only one way to live within it: with a ferocity of attention, care, and response."
—Mary Oliver

"In Necessary Light, Pat Fargnoli proves that joy is not only possible, but that the highest joy is arrived at only after bearing the weight of experience through some terrifying valleys. Ms. Fargnoli's heartening, disturbing, mature first book is rich with two things poetry can never have enough of: energy and wonder."
—Brendan Galvin

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1999

About the author

Patricia Fargnoli is a former NH Poet Laureate (term: 12/06-03/09). The author of 5 award-winning books of poetry and 3 chapbooks, she's been awarded The May Swenson Book Award (judged by Mary Oliver), The NH Jane Kenyon Literary Award for an Outstanding Book of Poetry, ForeWords Silver Poetry Book Award, the Shelia Mooton Book Award, The Frost Foundation Award, an honorary BFA from The NH Institute of Art, and a Macdowell fellowship.

Her work has been published widely in journals such as: Poetry, Massachusetts Review, North American Review, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, Harvard Review, Rattle, Nimrod and others.

She has taught private poetry classes and in Elderhostels and the Keene State College Lifelong Learning Program. And is available for manuscript critiquing and private tutorials.

A retired social-worker, psycho-therapist, she lives in Walpole, NH

Reviews

[Nancy Contreras · Rating 5 out of 5]

When diving into Patricia Fargnoli’s first ever published poetry book “Necessary Light”, you read through the waves of her life. Through motions of life, love, and death, her words surround you like the sand amongst a beach, they flow through you like the ocean, and they comfort you like the sun hugging the horizon.

What makes “Necessary Light” a necessary read, in my opinion, is the fact that Fargnoli published this book at the age of 62 and she did not begin to study poetry until she was in her mid-30s. A retired psychotherapist, Fargnoli has many sentiments on what beauty is and how it exists. In a blog post in Peacock Journal, she states, “I believe that beauty exists as a reality in the physical world, but that it is also in the mind and heart.” She goes on to say that beauty is “felt in the chemistry of emotions” and that it is “intuitive and learned”. She describes it as being sometimes loud, but it is more often quiet like the “dip dip of a canoe paddle, a sunset flaring across still water”. These sentiments are scattered throughout her book with the centered theme being of the sea and the beach in many of her poems. We are able to feel and share Fargnoli’s sentiments, not because we are also a 62 year old woman living in New Hampshire, but because she uses the sky, ocean, and earth we all share to connect us to her experiences through life.

[Julene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pat's poetry is a joy to enter into, comfortable, friendly, wise. This was the first book of hers I read and I wanted more. She has traveled and she brings the world to us. She has loved and she shares her intimacies. This is a rich book to savor.

[Edward Nudelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great poet, great book... and of course, a wonderful human being. Patricia Fargnoli is what you always wanted a poet to be, but were afraid to ask, for fear of getting squelched. The only thing that surpasses her poetic accessibility, is her personal life and soul.