response

Thank you, Towne Center Books!

I did a reading from response at Towne Center Books in Pleasanton, CA (555 Main St.) in conversation with author Karen Van Zino. If you’re in the area, Towne Center Books has copies of response on hand.

response is an engaging collection of reflections and observations that call the reader to look more closely at the world we inhabit. The poems recount tales of leaving home, surprising encounters, losing a pet, coursing rivers, and passing storms. They talk of flowers and trees, bubbles and snails, the companionship of an evening walk. The poems reflect gratitude for the awe-inspiring moments that arise in ordinary circumstances every day. #poetry #nature #environment #life #relationships

Excerpts from response:

First Night

Tail end of August. Mild air, a quarter moon
smiled benignly. Stars glittered, mirroring
our nervous excitement. In the distance,
beyond the town, stretched the beckoning finger
of the deep glacial lake.

We sat on a grassy slope that joined the dorm
complex below with the arts quad above. Suspended
in time, a handful of us, newly met, talked
the way strangers do. Superficial conversation.
Where are you from? What’s your major?
The words didn’t really matter.

We sat on the edge of the future. Our futures.
In afternoon farewells to families, we released
our pasts, or at least loosened our grip. Soon,
reality would come for us. But this night, for
a few hours, the magic of the unknown held sway.

We sat together past midnight, sipping cartons
of chocolate milk. Palavering, laughing, drunk on
the elixir of limitless possibility floating on the breeze.

 Patricia J. Boyle

soap bubble

buoyant, shimmering sphere
ephemeral ball of beauty

soft and wet, yet strong enough
to hold a swirling rainbow

floating, drifting on currents of air,
you’re a dancing chile, joyous and light

fairy fine, yet releasing a tear
i reach out a hand to guide you

you follow my lead,
but your message is clear—

i’ll let you come close
and accept your affection,

though i’m not part of you,
and don’t want your protection

you may share in my life,
yet don’t hold me too tight,

for if you constrict me
i’ll wink out of sight

Patricia J. Boyle

response is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
and Finishing Line Press, or by order
through your local bookstore.