A Little Lost Here
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In a variety of subject matter, voices and styles, this latest collection by John Palen explores a world of loss - deaths of loved ones, failures of democracy to live up to its aspirations, physical deterioration in old age - yet discovers in that world a surprising wealth of perseverance, courage, acceptance, and beauty. As a lifelong music lover now with hearing loss, he struggles to hear music, but can find meaning in watching the interplay among musicians, and "the way a good conductor/ sometimes just/ stops conducting for a while/ and lets them be."
John Palen
John Palen pleads guilty to committing journalism and poetry in a career spanning more than 50years. He worked as a newspaper reporter and editor, and also taught journalism. His firstpublished poem in other than student journals appeared in Prairie Schooner in 1967. His booksinclude Open Communion: New and Selected Poems, and Distant Music, both from MayapplePress, and Riding With the Diaspora and Strange and Wonderful Creatures, both from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. With Li C. Tien, he co-authored a chapbook of adaptations of Chinese poets of theSong Dynasty, Drizzle and Plum Blossoms, published by March Street Press. He lives inretirement and tends his vegetable garden on the Illinois Grand Prairie.
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