as if a dry wind
Pecan Grove Press
Evening Primrose
No breeze this evening,
only breath released
when each pale shell pops
open. Yellow petals quiver,
spread fragrance into darkening
green, until the whole
plant shudders as if a dry wind
or a large bird has passed.
There is no wind, no wings—
one by one, together
yellow flowers
spread against the dark.
Now Available from Pecan Grove Press
"I feel a calm acceptance of the universe's co-operative nest when I read your poems." Sarah Gadon
"Reading Helen Frost’s as if a dry wind, I am awed by the sureness, the steadiness, the generosity of voice and of vision informing each poem, as well as by a mastery of craft so subtle I’m often not aware, during first reading, of the range of forms – traditional and open – in which they are written. Whether in the personas of others, or speaking from personal experience, Frost’s poems befriend us with the insights and patience of one who has lived well, loved well, and learned to make peace with loss. These compassionate poems speak to the best in each of us. They will – in the words of the poet – cradle “the weight [we] carry, as a well-made canoe/ cradles those who guide it down a river,/ holding their strength in its own.” As if a dry wind is one of the wisest, most life-affirming, books I have ever read."
Ingrid Wendt, winner of the Yellowglen Prize for The Angle of Sharpest Ascending, and of the Editions Prize for Surgeonfish.
"This is a book of wonderful stories. The poetry they are told in is taut, spare, and muscular, yet they go softly, in a returning movement, like completely natural things--waves, or branches, or snow on the wind, or women remembering."
Ursula LeGuin
