Daniela Gioseffi (Book review of Margaret Saraco)
Daniela Gioseffi is an American Book Award winning author of 18 books, the latest of poetry being Waging Beauty as the Polar Bear Dreams of Ice.
IF THERE IS NO WIND: POEMS by Margaret R. Saraco
Human Error Publisning: paul@humanerrorpublishing.com
ISBN” 978-1948521116
Paperback, Sept. 27, 2022
96 pages: $15.00
Available at online bookstores incl. Amazon, Barnes & Noble
and at Watchung Booksellers, I Am Books.
Reviewed by Daniela Gioseffi
Margaret R. Saraco’s poetic gift is found in her talent to bring to life, in imaginative but accessible poems, feelings and experiences with which we can all identify. She is a keen observer of nature in which she sometimes finds peace, in lines from Sking Above the Timberline “Today I wish I could blend with the earth/on this mountain full of snow…./there is no imperfection here.”
But the truth is that the natural world also holds risks and threats as in Mendocino Bluffs …. Yet I still stand back, retreat/frightened of the danger that presents itself// on this bluff, on this day. If I lived here/would I confront my fear? Would I jump in the/water and not care how cold or treacherous it is?// Would I venture to the precipice, allow/the wind to pick me off my feet and let me/float filling my lungs with sea air shrouded in salt spray?
One of the charms of Saraco’s poetry is that she often questions herself, as we all secretly do, wondering how we will face everything that confronts us from death to illness to love. And the conclusion is not complete, as in the imaginatively original title poem quoted here in full:
If Wind Were Erased from the Earth
Without the wind…
water pools
kites are founded
chimes are silenced
forests do not whistle
dust remains in the road
windmills are motionless
leaves are not shaken from trees
feathers are not lifted on a whim
seeds are not dispersed and sown
flowers have nothing to withstand
sand prints are not smoothed away
blizzards no longer obliterate our view
bats and butterflies miss their flying cure
rain and snow fall perpendicular to the earth
washed garments on clotheslines are not refreshed
and if the answer is blowin’ in the wind
if there is no wind,
there is no answer. [p.37]
The main philosophical conclusion in the poet’s book is that most lives contain sorrow, and if we are fortunate, love, and some beauty and joy at times, but change, as the wind changes everything, is the main ingredient of our lives. Nothing stays forever, and we hope at last to be free, flying above all as in the final poem of the collection titled Invocation: “…. Let the birds carry my body above the salted sea,/ invite me to soar then dive like an osprey// looking for dinner, cutting the water, /swimming in warmth, bathing my afterimage away.
In the journey through the poet’s book, we find careful observations, detailed listening, shared feelings of love and loss and concern about the destruction of nature as well as appreciation for its inherent beauty, an awareness of its stormy possibilities, understanding of the immigrant origins of our nation and its struggles toward democracy as it emerges from blood baths of wars. There is a longing to make sense of the world in all its horrors, sadness, joys, and emotional experiences. There is the acknowledgement of both joy and suffering from the unreasonable nature of fate, of domestic terrorism and school shootings, but there is gratitude for the simple acts of beings, of living with feeling and hope and sorrow in an imperfect world. We feel the unpretentious nature of this poet’s accepting personality, her loving observations that detail both simple and complex truths in which we the reader can easily share feeling.
How simply, yet profoundly Saraco understands true love in her poem by that title, in which dialog is used to express the simplicity and complexity of comfortable domestic love. One can’t resist quoting from this unpretentiously profound poem with it’s comforting, domestic charm as portrayed in a playlet:
True Love
They huddle on the sofa together.
“I will go anywhere with you,” she says.
“Where do you want to go?” he asks in a low voice.
“Lisbon.” she says. “I would go there with you.”
“Should we leave it all behind?” he asks.
“Yes,” she says, “Let’s just go,” she smiles.
“Leave it behind. Leave all if it behind.”
The air is filled with the coming of snow.
Snow is indeed forecast
A stillness settles in the room.
“I will go anywhere with you,” he says.
“Where do you want to go? She asks.
“I don’t know,” he answers truthfully.
“I guess it I am with you it won’t matter.”
“The two sit in silence on the sofa in an unlit room.
“Should we go to bed?” she asks.
“Sure,” he says. “I’ll get the lights if you lock the doors.”
“’ll give the cats a snack if you take the laundry.”
“Okay,” he says.
“Okay, she says.
“I guess if you’re going upstairs I will too,” she says.
“You promised you’d go anywhere with me,” he smiles.
“I did promise,” she says.
Together they climb the stairs holding hands. [p.29]
This poem epitomizes Saraco at her best, so simply and honestly does she capture a few moments of domestic tranquility with which to identify. Those who have had such moments will immediately understand, and those who haven’t will be cast into poetic longing. And isn’t that what makes good poetry. The evocation to identify with the poet’s feelings. The very function of poetry is to share human experience and Saraco is good at that. In a very unpretentious way, she manages to effect the reader giving profound meaning to the everyday experience of taking a walk, talking with a loved one, worrying about the environment, the longing for climate justice, the concerns that are part of our every life.
Just as CMarie Fuhrman, Co-editor of Native Voices has written, “Margaret Saraco’s gift is her ability to translate the everyday acts of living, into unique, beautiful moments of poetry. …shot through with a bit of sadness, which highlights the moments of joy.”
As I, this reviewer now writing of Saraco work, has often said, in past reviews of poetry collections, contrast creates perception.
And as David Ebendbach, author of What’s Left to Us by Evening, wrote, Saraco reminds us that “We, the flawed, inherit the earth….”
Margaret R. Saraco reminds us and asks in her wonder at the healing beauty of nature, family, and art, “What will become of us?”
_________________________________________
Copyright © 2023 by Daniela Gioseffi, American Book Award winning author of 18 books, the latest of poetry being Waging Beauty as the Polar Bear Dreams of Ice. www.DanielaGioseffi.com
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/daniela-gioseffi
Academy of American Poets
https://poets.org/poet/daniela-gioseffi
Editor: http://www.EcoPoetry.org/