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The Last Camellia Paperback – November 10, 2023

by Mary Kendall (Author)

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At times we all “stand too close” to ourselves. Beginning with “a childhood spent / in secondhand clothes,” Mary Kendall’s The Last Camellia documents her navigation through suffering and the quest to rediscover herself. In doing so, images from the natural world float in and out of her poems like “the soft rustle / of quivering aspen leaves.”
The poet links and shifts four Japanese forms—tanka, haiku, haiga, and tanka art—in a garden of exquisite images. Shadows and silence remain after “a feeling of you / standing behind me.” A red-bellied woodpecker “flaunts his drumming skills.” A newborn faun wobbles “in old-growth grass.”
One cannot fail to notice the sensitive way Mary explores emotions—doubt, loss, sorrow, and the joy of finding oneself. In one revelation, she shows us how “it took sixty years / to find the voice I lost.” Her signature tanka, “the last Camellia,” concludes: “it has taken a lifetime / for me to notice / the beauty in myself.” Each poem is a flower, budding slowly and opening to reveal its fragrance. This is not a book to be skimmed through. It is one to sit with, savour, and quietly celebrate its images of human love and frailty. From this subtle collection, we discover the universal beauty that blossoms in our own souls.

—Hazel Hall, author of Moonlight over the Siding

The Last Camellia is a beautiful compilation of Japanese short-form poetry. Mary Kendall deftly employs poetics and Japanese aesthetics in her work, creating an evocative and engaging collection. Her haiku juxtapose the natural seasons with seasons of her life, true to the heritage of this poetic form. Her tanka, these “short songs,” link and shift from vivid nature imagery to a thoughtful reflection of her inner landscape.
The poet details memories of travels, of grief and loss, and the beauty of imperfection. The subtle sequencing of her work adds depth to the themes she presents, such as in this exemplar: “miscarriage . . . / the very word / betrays / the promise /of hope” linked with this haiku: “abandoned nest / four blue eggs / but no answers.”
The Last Camellia is worth several readings to relish the insights therein.

—Carol Judkins, author of at the water’s edge