In the Mellow Light

The essence of a poem writes Shirley Russak Wachtel in this poetry collection spanning over thirty years is the middle of things. This notion is beautifully illustrated as in a variety of poetic styles including rhyme free verse pantoume and haiku she illumines life's ordinary activities. Whether it is contemplating a red cardinal in her own backyard emptying the sand from the pockets of her son's shorts making a tuna fish sandwich or watching the swollen backs of old women receding in the distance these lyrical discoveries explore the supreme beauty in life's smallest most precious moments. <br><br>PRAISE for IN THE MELLOW LIGHT<br><br>These poems by Shirley Russak Wachtel are crisp as April's morning air. They are crisp with human detail even as they connect us with the wide world of nature. Wachtel has a great heart and she has the ability to let us see this great heart her marvelous perceptions through her poetry her art. Praise!<br><br>-Emanuel di Pasquale author of Cartwheel to the Moon (Cricket Books 2003) Writing Anew: New and Selected Poems (Bordighera 2007) winner of the Chelsea Award for Poetry and The Raiziss/dePalchi Fellowship for translations from the Italian (sponsored by Academy of American Poets).<br><br>Shirley Russak Wachtel's poetry is grounded in the everyday of middle-class America old Little League T-shirts dogs dreaming of running through high grass the slow steady passage of days in a suburban neighborhood. What makes her poetry so effective is the realization of the miraculous hiding within the commonplace...matched effectively by Wachtel's skillful use of refrain. Overall Wachtel's poetry reminds one of a walk along the beach--it is to be savored for the rhythmic music of the surf as well as for the beautiful treasures one often discovers deposited by the tide waiting to be discovered.<br><br>-Mathew V. Spano PhD author of over sixty poems featured in dust of summers (Red Moon Press 2007); Baseball Haiku: The Best Haiku Written About the Game (Norton 2007); and The Poets of New Jersey: From Colonial to Contemporary (Jersey Shore Press 2006).