Firmament

Kathleen L. Housley

Higganum Press Inc.

$12.95

ISBN 978-0-9776556-3-2



Kathleen Housley opens with”The Magi,” a poem that takes me back to a biblical time in recollecting the Christ child and gifts of the Magi. Then it brings me to the present day. She is skillful in time travel and writes with daunting imagery. In the “Ravine of the roan horse,” “… lightning blasts a single tree. Like closed pine cones, our hearts burst open in the heat!” A miracle observed in the present. We could not be more astonished if a star slipped from the night to hover here beyond the dawn. She plays with the theme of the extraordinary in the ordinary and does it successfully. I amsurprised to find I am a time rider myself.



Again in “The Pharisees Confront Jesus In the Court of Caiphas” She bringsJesus to the present day and presents moral questions of our time. She asks Jesus if he would have taken the path to death if he knew the world wouldn't Change: “Would you take the road to the place of skulls if you knew for sure that the world will be no better for your death?” And yet in the conclusionshe brings up hope: “Who can tell. Love may echo through the silence of your last cry.”



The poet is in touch with the spirit world in a way that is fresh and
unusual. How many of us have at one time or another felt we were saved bygrace but couldn't put into words our feeling of gratitude. She does this in Strange Grace. In the poem, mountain climbers in a dangerous circumstanceare saved by inexplicable grace, not merely by skill or luck: “..but in thismoment of clear, high light, as we study where we have been, we are awed by the other tracing in the snow, near to our steps , as if of wings. An outdoor person and seeker , I can relate to this sense of the miraculous.



Finally I want to bring attention to the juxtaposition of the fractal images
and the poems in this collection and the resulting powerful meaning from the interweaving of science and poetry. I am fascinated. In some part of my mind I have been searching for this connection. In “The Speed of Light” is an astonishing vision of truth . Once again the poet uses the horse image as in the opening poem in this collection.: “The horse rides into a landscape of light, including the glimmer in memory condensate of a luminous horse slowing near the crest to whinny at the stars.” I am left with a sense of old-fashioned wonder.

Barbara Thomas.    Barbara Thomas is a published poet and a member of the "Bagel Bards."