![]() There were also three photographs from the family album which had been shrunk in size for the book, so I had to squint extra hard to guess at what people’s-especially young Marilyn’s, and her sister, Jennifer’s-eyes and facial expressions might tell. ![]() ![]() Underneath the title of each poem was a location and a year, such as “Mather AFB, California, 1957” or “Smoky Hill AFB, Kansas, 1954.” The first poem was situated in “Cleveland, Ohio 1950” and the final poem in “Clinton-Sherman AFB, Oklahoma, 1959.” I counted at least nine different locations. I sat on the side of the bed and began to thumb through. Just for that I’m putting your book to the side while I read something else! (What a brat, right?) Well, by the time I finished sulking it was nearly time for me to return the book to the public library-there would be no renewing it since another patron was awaiting this copy. Marilyn! That’s not what I wanted from you! (I may as well have whined). I had high expectations but when I saw the little volume with its sparse, undramatic illustrations (by Hadley Hooper) and realized the book consisted of 50 unrhymed sonnets, the sides of my mouth did sag a little bit. When I read that Marilyn Nelson had a new book coming out called How I Discovered Poetry, I said to myself hurray! I was thinking she might deliver a prose narrative that uncovered the background magic of why her poems touch me so. ![]()
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