A Darker Manuscript From Polly Brody,

But Still A Celebration Of Life

By Shannon Hicks

Polly Brody’s newest book is “a darker manuscript,” she says, than her earlier collections but it is not morbidly dark. “The first part, especially, deals with situations humans have been involved with.”

The new collection of poetry, called Stirring Shadows, will debut during a book launch celebration at Southbury Public Library on Wednesday, November 18. The public is invited to join the former Newtown resident for the celebration, which will include light refreshments and readings.

Stirring Shadows, Ms Brody said recently, has “a woman’s voice speaking throughout the manuscript. Not a young woman, but one with some maturity.”

That could explain in large part the themes that carry through the book’s subsections. The first one, “Raptor Hush,” includes a number of poems that concern human nature, Ms Brody said. The book’s cover (again, like the previous collection by Ms Brody, featuring artwork by Kie) shows the shadow of a bird of prey reflected on the bark of a tree. “It’s a foreshadow of this section,” said the writer.

“Casting Against Darkness” is a grouping that “deals with dark issues, like mortality or loss, with gestures made in the face of that darkness,” Ms Brody explained.

“Decantings” offers a softer look at the world.

“These are tender poems, in the contest still of human mortality, but not in the tone of the earlier part of the book,” said the author. This section of the book contains a large number of writings that offer “a pouring forth,” she said, many about her late mother.

“It’s an important transition,” she said.

There are two poems that make up the final portion of the book, and both are salutes to life. “Attending My Granddaughter’s Birth,” as its name implies, covers the joy that came with the birth of Ms Brody’s first granddaughter, Winona.

“In my readings I will certainly close with this one, a celebration,” Ms Brody promised.

Polly Brody is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and earned a master’s degree from Southern Connecticut State University in biology. She has traveled extensively in Europe, East Africa, Australia, and South America following her passion for bird watching. As a biologist and experienced field ornithologist, she lectures and has created seminars on animal behavior.

Ms Brody has long been an active advocate for the environment and when she was chairman of Newtown Conservation Commission she helped to preserve the 790 acres in Newtown that is now known as the Upper Paugussett State Forest.

She has won awards and has been published in many literary journals and was a presenting poet for the New England Foundation for the Humanities series, “After Frost, Poetry in New England.”

Ms Brody’s previous collections are Other Nations, a poetry book that was released in 1999; a book of essays, The Burning Bush, published in 2005 by Antrim House; and At The Flower’s Lip, a collection of poems that depict the anguish of divorce and the joy of late-life love that was published in 2007, also by Antrim House. Five additional poems were recently added to At The Flower’s Lip when it went into its second printing. For Stirring Shadows, Ms Brody has again returned to Connecticut-based Antrim House and editor Rennie McQuilkin.

“I’m very excited about this,” said Ms Brody, who will also be returning to Newtown in a few months for an author program at C.H. Booth Library.

Reservations are requested for the November 18 book launch at Southbury Public Library. Call 203-262-0626, extension 130, to make them. The library is at 100 Poverty Road.

In addition to the event in Southbury, Ms Brody will be the featured poet on Tuesday, December 17, at 7 pm, when Broad Street Books in Middletown presents its First Tuesday Poetry Series. She has also been put on the calendar for Sunday, January 10, at 2 pm, for a reading and book signing program.