Treasures Stored for Winter

<p>Joan Burstyn's fourth book of poems <i>Treasures Stored for Winter</i> draws the reader into the author's life from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. At times personal and political events combine-as happens on the evening of June 30 1982 when the last state legislature rejected the Equal Rights Amendment. At that moment Burstyn stood with other women around a pond in South Orange New Jersey as they raised their voices in protest as remembered in Waiting to Rise Again.</p>I felt braided</br>into others' lives</br>mingled beyond extrication.</br>We stood together</br>in darkness each with candle</br> flooding the pond with light</br>hope filling our eyes</br>even as the Equal Rights Amendment</br>was snuffed out</br>swiftly as a candle's flame ...</p><p>In this collection Burstyn makes clear that life demands both awe and optimism from us.</p>My first dip into <i>Treasures Stored for Winter</i> brings up a small package After Snow; it bursts open with imagery so vibrant and glowing that I can't help myself. I dip again bring out While the House Sleeps; with its commanding imagery metaphorically I become ... a matador/swirling my red cloak/before the bull prodding it with my words.</br>-Joanna Chrzanowski SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor; chair English Department Jefferson College