Day 14: "Sleeping with the Moon" by Colleen J. McElroy

I was introduced to this book about three weeks ago in class. Our class featured using the moon in poetry. This collection is the perfect example. Not every poem has the moon, but most do. The moon sometimes is very feminine, sometimes a voyeur, a friend, a lover. The moon is a character most of the time with the idea of watching (both ways), and appearing as a natural mysterious presence.

The poems are lyrical with a narrative. There are jazz riffs, prose poems, there is a lot of poetic feats! There is a lot of body, relationship, aging, sometimes illness, being explored.

"Pillow Book," the first poem of the collection is one of my favorite. "in the absence of a lover / books occupy my bed's extra pillow / those words have never failed me / though paper ages--grow brittle"--I love these! What a way to enter a collection! I do not always understand the rest--of this poem, of some of the others. I do not need to. The sound is what the the poet chooses and it is never flat or sharp--just on key.

I want to clarify that the moon is not used as in astrology, at least not often, but as a body of nature that is always watching.

I bought the last one from a bookstore. This link should give the current edition:

https://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Illinois-Poetry-Colleen-McElroy/dp/0252032357/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=colleen+j.+mcelroy&qid=1597378568&sr=8-9