Items for Sale

A Book of Poems You Just Might Enjoy Reading

by LaMoine MacLaughlin

Recently the Northern Lakes Press expanded its publication offerings to include books by local authors. The first of these is a collection of my poems entitled “A Scent of Lilac and Other Poems.” Most of these poems were originally published right here in The Hometown Gazette and are being collected in one volume.

Over the years many people have remarked how well they have enjoyed these poems in our newspaper, and they are now being made available in this collection.

Now I know what you are thinking: Poetry! Ugh! And actually, reading much contemporary poetry, I share your feelings. In our time so much poetry is simply private, personal expression, or a weirdly concocted series of words just plain cutsey-pie incomprehensible. I think you will find these poems different.

I believe that any successful poem lifts into flight upon wings of music and magic. A poem’s music sings from the poet’s skillful use of craft. A poem’s magic swirls from the poet’s skillful use of imagination.

So much twentieth century poetic experimentation drives Walt Whitman’s elegant beginnings into the dark, blind alleys of private, prosaic expression. Significant exceptions exist: most notably, W. B. Yeats, Robert Frost, and W. H. Auden, and we must remember that Emily Dickinson was essentially “discovered” during the twentieth century. However, most contemporary poetic attempts reach no general audience and leave the life of poetry hanging by a very thin thread indeed. Anyone who denies the declining number of poetry readers during the late twentieth century lives on some other planet.

Poetry should be shared with your friends and neighbors. Real poetry should at least attempt to communicate with ordinary human beings, those readers and listeners whom you might meet while shopping in your local supermarket, or while having coffee at your local cafe. These poems attempt to do just that: to communicate and to share experiences with people I know, and love, and respect, without condescension or apology.

Writing poetry is hard work, but the feeling of satisfaction following completion of a successful poem can also be a sublime delight. As your writer, I hope you find some of that same delight in what you read in this book. And I hope that you, as my reader, exercise your supreme compliment: that you reread your favorites in this collection every now and then, perhaps even sharing them with someone else, and that you find some music and some magic in them.

If you would like to purchase a copy of “A Scent of Lilac and Other Poems,” please fill out the order form found here, enclose a check for the appropriate amount made out to the Northern Lakes Center for the Arts. I will be reading from this collection at the Center and in several local libraries, bookstores, and other appropriate places - watch for dates, times, and locations.

And Here’s Another Book Available from Northern Lakes Press

Following on the heels of the success of A Scent of Lilac and Other Poems, the Northern Lakes Press is pleased to announce the publication of a second book, this time featuring several writers, members of the Northern Lakes Writers’ Guild. The book, Northern Lakes’ Soundings, includes a wide range of literary forms and styles, most of them previously published in The Hometown Gazette, the local arts and culture magazine, What’s Playing and elsewhere.

Within the pages of Northern Lakes’ Soundings you will find fifty-two stories, poems and essays, including:

• Patricia L. Hansen’s delightful poetry as represented by “The Carpenters” and “Strawberry Morning.”

• Irene Christiansen’s beautiful poems, “Stormy Day At Fenske Lake” and “Midnight Love.”

• Don Hansen’s humorous poems, “My Porch” and “Men’s Crisis Center,” plus two poignant stories also by him, “Home Schooled” and “The Angus Cafe.”

• Louie MacLaughlin’s literary debut with a series of five fun villanelles, including “For Those Who Loathe Poetry,” “For Brindle,” and “For Waxwings.”

• Jeanne Murphy’s humor, well represented with “Two Short Poems,” and “Parody On Longfellow,” as well as by her touching short story, “Mary Ruth At The Funeral.”

• Ralph Weber’s poetry, represented by several sonnets, including “With Primrose And With Star” and “At Close of Day,” as well as by the villanelle, “An Exhortation.”

• Don Hoffman’s poems, “Reflections in a Morning Mirror” and “Prairie Storm.”

• LaMoine MacLaughlin’s short story, “The Silence,” which won first place in the Wisconsin Regional Writers Jade Ring Contest in 2008.

It is planned that the authors will be reading from the book at public libraries throughout our area - watch for dates, times and places.

For a printable order form, click here:

Another book you might enjoy reading . . .

Lyra

Poems by LaMoine MacLaughlin

The lyre, one of the most ancient of all musical instruments, comes to us from Greek mythology associated with Apollo, the god of music. Apollo gave the instrument to Orpheus when he was only a child, and the Muses taught him to use it. Even Nature herself would stop to listen, enraptured by his music. Later when Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, died and was taken to the Underworld, Orpheus followed in hopes of bringing her back. His playing convinced Hades to release Eurydice, provided Orpheus didn’t look back at her during their journey home – but just as he emerged into the sunlight Orpheus turned, gazed upon his wife, and lost her forever. After the death of Orpheus, the Muses carried his lyre into the heavens and placed it among the stars as the constellation we know as Lyra. Although only a small constellation visible in the northern hemisphere from spring through autumn, Lyra’s principal star, Vega, shines as one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Today we recognize the lyre as a small harp sometimes used to accompany a song or recitation, and the source of the word lyric.

I believe the basic ingredients of poetry mirror the basic elements of music, from rhythm and cadence to melody and harmony. These features provide both the context and the content lingering in our eye, in our ear, in our mind, and in our memory after we turn the page and close the book. And they remain with us, returning over afternoon coffee, providing special warmth before a crackling fire on a cold winter night. I hope you enjoy these poems and their music.

If you would like to purchase a copy of Lyra, please fill out the order form found here, enclose a check for the appropriate amount made out to the Northern Lakes Center for the Arts. I will be reading from this collection at the Center and in several local libraries, bookstores, and other appropriate places - watch for dates, times, and locations.