Customer Reviews

Hartley Field: Poems

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Hartley Field is a nature preserve in Connie Wanek's home city of Duluth, MN. While her poetry collection by that name is inspired by a deep love of nature, each of these wonderful poems moves beyond nature into a realm of spirit and moral meditation. There is humor in these poems as well as deep feeling for family and place. Connie is a fine poet.

When I think of a Connie Wanek poem, I think of a refreshing, cool, clear glass of water. She uses everyday language, simple imagery, and uncluttered lines to give us unexpected insights behind common objects and occurrences in our lives. "Hartley Field" holds daisies, teeter-totters, lawyers, peanuts, lemons, poodles and even a hammer, but you'll find yourself surprised at the angles from which Wanek makes you view each of them. "Hartley Field" is a place of stock-taking and reflection, a place where find ourselves smiling, grimacing, and sympathizing as we are made to recall our own similar moments captured in each poem. And Wanek has a knack for a last line that gives a poem a pivotal twist. As an example, here's her poem, "Daisies":

In the democracy of daisies
every blossom has one vote.
The question on the ballot is:
Does he love me?

If the answer's wrong, I try another,
a little sorry about the petals
piling up around my shoes.

Bees are loose in the fields
where daisies wait and hope,
dreaming of the kiss of a proboscis.
We can't possibly understand

what makes us such fools.
I blame the June heat
and everything about him.

We are blessed: Connie Wanek is only in her late fifties, meaning she's got years of poetry writing ahead of her. That alone keeps me optimistic about the future!

I don't have the vocabulary to review this book anymore than I have the vocabulary to review a bottle of wine. I am not a writer, much less poet myself, but I sometimes like to read poetry. I enjoy reading this author's poetry.

I am no relation to the other Henricksen reviewing this book.