Poetry about people and place in western Pennsylvania
This cycle of poems is about the author's childhood in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania in a small town north of Pittsburgh. Altoona was once a major center for railroads and coal mines, and the economic and environmental damage caused by these industries and their decline is an important theme in the book. Mom's Canoe also celebrates the natural beauty of the area and the courage and spirit of the people wo live there.
Excerpt
MOM’S CANOE
Do you remember your old canoe?
Wooden wide-bellied, tapered ends
made to slip through tight river bends
swiftly, like shadow.
Hull ribbed delicately, wing of bird
Sometimes seen, never heard when it flew
through the water more glider than boat,
ponderous in portage, weightless afloat.
Frail origami, vessel of air,
wide shallow saucer suspended where
shallows met shadows near the old dam.
Remember how it glowed like honey in summer
rubbed with beeswax and turpentine
against leaks, cracks, weather and time.
All your housekeeping went into that canoe,
then you rode high, bow lifted,
arced up like flight, all magic, power,
evening light. You j-stroking,
side-slipping, eddying out, frugal
with movement, all without effort,
just like you walked and ran.
I still see you rising from water to sky,
paddle held high,
river drops limning its edge.
Brown diamonds catch the light as you lift, then dip.
Parting the current, you slip
silently through the evening shadows.
You, birdsong, watersong, slanting light,
following river bend, swallowed from sight.
Rebecca Foust
This poem was first published in The Atlanta Review, Vol. XIV, No. 1 Fall/Winter 2007, and it won second place in Atlanta Review’s 2007 International Poetry Competition.
Professional Reviews
Woman's Review of Books, March/April 2009
One of four chapbooks featured in "Field Notes"
Alehouse Press
Review forthcoming Fall 2009
The Pedestal Magazine, Spring 2009
Review forthcoming at wwww.thepedestalmagazine.com in Spring 2009.
