Laura Stamps Speaks Words Only True Poets Can...

English: Pussy willow from Turku Finland. Suomi: Pajunkissa Turusta. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cats, Daffodils & Dragonflies: 

Mystical Nature Poems 

(1987-2005)

By Laura Stamps

Opening my door every morning allows me to see the beauty of my surroundings on 13 acres of woodland and the site of my cabin...A Pussy Willow Tree sits outside my door, one that I planted almost as soon as I moved in. I've added a bird feeder and enjoy watching the birds be smarter and faster than my cats. The Red Birds enjoy the dry cat food, so, I share that too, while my cats eat on my front porch...

I know you're thinking--so what? What does this have to do with your review of a book...

How Cool! I Coulda Been a Contender?!!!

Laura Stamps writes what I see through my eyes, but cannot put into words! I don't  think I knew what a soul mate was before I read this book, for surely her words complements the images I see as, for instance, that one pussy willow changes during our seasons...If this is not the meaning of soul mate, I don't know what it would be...

And, of course, the primary reason I bought the book was that she loves cats! In fact, her 2005 her poetry book "The Year of the Cat" was nominated for the "Pulitzer Prize." And it's included in this collection. How cool is that?!

Normally, I have found that poetry collections are rather short, but not this one! And the formatting into an ebook is not the greatest just because of the nature of presentation of poetry--actually, I would love to see this book out as a coffee-table creation with photos to match her words...I know many cat lovers and nature lovers like me would have it prominently displayed in our homes...

BEAUTY


I once read that lily means
beauty, like a tiger lily,
like the tiny cat that swam
 through my life, a river of
cream and black, wrapping
the soft ribbons of her paws
around my heart: let us walk
together in beauty. How far
have I come? Can I lift my
wings with the bright green
 wink of a luna moth, a
miracle that I have witnessed
three times in thirty-eight 
years? Can I hear the tales
of goodness and peace
shuffling the dark branches
of the trees? Can I sit in the
corner of an empty room,
my hands lost in the ebony
purse of this kitten's fur,
whispering stories of earth,
pumoth, tiger lily? Let us lift
our wings and soar in
beauty.
~~~

For Laura Stamps is a true literary poet, who has been published worldwide in over 1000 magazines, so you may have already read her! But, you know what I did after I read the last page of the book? I moved it back to the beginning. I plan to use it as a daily reading to brighten my days...

Because that's is just what you find in this book: joy, peace, contentment... Oh sure, there are a few with a sign of being down, but not many...and if you have had just one contact with the author on line, you will know that the feelings are real! Makes you want to have her as your friend...

"...Daily, I plant the eeds of love, kindness, and beauty,
graced with the daffodil's smile. And when the sun rises
each morning, I can hardly wait.

Having this book is just about the next best thing...

Most of her poems take minute pieces of nature, flowers, sky...everything turns into some, yes, mystical place that only she can take us to--are these really the same mundane items we step on,
or stumble across, or look at with unseeing eyes?

Yes, Yes, they are...for I, too, have seen them in a different light since I've moved into my cabin and strolled through acres--finding a trillium (which I had never before seen)...

Still, I don't have the words...

Are you, too, in that place where you need to stop and, as they say, "smell the roses...?"

If so, Laura Stamps has the way to do that, even when you're at work in some office, or taking the subway home from the city...She will pull you out of your present and take you to a place you can only envision...and yet, she does it so easily, that you may think she is there, merely talking to you about her day...but how does she move us? Ahhh, that is the true mystery...

Only a true poet writes this way... 

By the way, I know little about poetry, have never studied it...so I rarely review poetry books, except from people I know or that have acknowledged that my review is never to be construed as a professional...only as someone who sometimes meet a soul mate poet who provides the words I would want to speak, those that are hidden in my heart... Those that she has been given a gift to share with all of us...

Coco with litter...

The Jeweled Chant

of meadowlarks,

mockingbirds,

and blue jays lures the sun from

its ebony cave, and at daybreak,

as that fiery phoenix rises from

the ashes of night to lift its

lemon eyelid, spackling the

sky with light,

Poppy often appears,

crouched in crabgrass or clinging

to the low branches of a tree.

Her tongue craves the ivory peaks

of yogurt almost as much as her

mother, who taps Poppy's head

whenever the kitten attempts to

lap the milky treasure from both

bowls. Each stray has gained

weight after two weeks of regular

meals, and their coats gleam like

the gloss of new leaves. In

the evening Poppy rolls in the grass

beside her father, while he finishes

Stubs (The Stray Father who Found a Home!)

dinner, her plump belly thrashing

back and forth. Has a kitten ever

adored her parents as much as

this one? Watching Poppy, I pray

for her joyous spirit, that it will

always soar like the skylark, the

sapphire lake of her life unclouded

with gray, her days frisky with

grasshoppers and butterflies, her

nights a purring soliloquy of peace.

~~~

Let's face it, you either enjoy poetry or not. Me, I as a reader enjoy some but not all poetry. If you're in the latter category and liked the samples here, check more out online at Amazon or other sites that allow you to read samples...Personally, I loved Stamps' poetry...You may too... Dare I say a must-read for poetry lovers?!

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Laura Stamps work has been published in over a thousand magazines, literary journals, and anthologies worldwide. The recipient of a Pulitzer Prize nomination and seven Pushcart Award nominations, she is the author of more than 54 books.

Currently, Laura lives in Columbia, South Carolina, with 9 cats in an antebellum-style house. Beyond her backyard lies a state forest, which just happens to be full of faeries.

Email: laurastamps18@yahoo.com

Related articles

• A Touch of Poetry by Laura Stamps From Cats, Daffodils and Dragonflies...

Jeanie Harris Provides Look at Life of American Poet...

Chasing Fireflies


The Dust Bowl 
Childhood of a Poet




By Jeanie Harris






I don't review many poetry books; I don't have the background professional qualifications to consider all types of poetry so, like a "technical language" book, I pass on most of them. When I do review them, it is because of the message, the words, that are being shared by the poet, nothing else. It was fun, therefore, to read about Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel's early life in Chasing Fireflies. Even though she read many poems and studied somewhat during her early years, she decided she would write as she wished, because it was "the words" that were important... My kind of woman...

Actually, Chasing Fireflies was more a memoir than a collection of poetry, although there are a few included, so I found myself becoming quite involved in McDaniel's early life. She was older than I and did not have access to "the conveniences" that we had by the time I was born, but there was still much for me to share as mutual memories from our childhoods.

Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel grew up in Oklahoma. Her family were sharecroppers. What that meant was that they lived on a farm, had animals, grew crops...but all of the property belonged to somebody else. The family got a percentage of the main crop.

As with today's landlords, there were problems with the house which were never addressed, but the family made it work, A short narrative, for instance, tells how the stove pipe started a fire, and while the family worked to put it out, Wilma's mother had stayed right there, holding things together--and still saving their dinner!

When the Depression came, and then the big crash of the stock market came, there was nation-wide fear, but for the farmers there in Oklahoma, those things meant little to their lives. It was the weather that controlled their future, and during those same years where America was facing financial ruin, there in Oklahoma, the winds started to blow. With little water and no sight of rain, major dust storms blew the top soil away until crops were no longer growing and much of the state became known as the dust bowl...

But in the heart and head of a young girl, Wilma still found wonder in what she saw. Using every scrap of paper she could find, she would work to find the exact words to describe what was happening around her.

Forces

Wind

Wind played a major role

in my early life

Changeable

as its very name

Sometimes

it was sighing gentle

and soothed my fears

under a patchwork quilt

Once

it became so violent

it blew my young life away

~~~

Actually, it was the wind that has deprived us of the earlier poems of this poet--she had started to write when she was 8. Wilma would hide everything she wrote in a hole between the paper and the wall behind her bed. When her family suddenly had the chance to move to California, in one day, she had not felt she could share her words with anybody and left them there, probably never to be found...(One touching thing for me was that, as she grew older and became known for her poetry, many would send her beautiful new writing paper...which she never used, but would save for something special, while she continued to write her poetry on envelopes, advertisements, paper bags, any scrap she could find.)

People talk about the "good ole days" but they really weren't. Sometimes though, we need a dose of reality to realize just how much has changed. "The best part of Wilma's gift was that she always saw something special in the most everyday things. She saw nobility in ordinary people, like her friends...(p. 129) 

Arguably the most iconic American poet of the 20th Century, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel stands without peer. Of German, Irish and Cherokee heritage, this extraordinary woman’s keen perspective through prose and poetry turned her life experiences into a wealth Wilma mined with a writer’s clarity, a poet’s insight, and a conviction and intensity etched through raw experience.  (Back40 Publishing)

I loved the personal story of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel found in Chasing Fireflies (One of the things she missed most when she moved from Oklahoma to California was that there were no fireflies sharing their flicker of lights in the evening hours...) You may click the title of this article to visit Back40 Publishing where you can find 13 collections of Wilma's poetry, as well as further background information on the works of  the “Dust Bowl” poet Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, 1918-2007.

Truly a must-read for poets and American history fans! And enjoy...

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