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Trying to Capture the Moment
Sway is a collection of poetry that embraces the reader in nature and encourages them to be one with the Living World. What was the inspiration for this collection of poetry?
The drive behind my nature poetry comes from my lifelong fascination with nature. It is me sitting outside trying to capture the moment. Everything my senses take in and expressing it to paper. The simple pondering of the infinite unknown: What would it be to fly on the wind through the trees? To catch a bright maple leaf or have legs covered in thick yellow pollen? What does nature show, ask of us? and committing this to verse.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
When I am writing I do not do so with theme in hand as a conscious thought. Themes erupt organically as I am writing in the exact day, time, season in my back yard. The intense seasons in the Northeastern United States naturally draw on change, transitions, beginnings and endings, so these themes are present in my poetry. The reflection of fall, introspection of winter, awakening of spring, glory of summer. In a way, nature chooses my themes.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your poetry collection?
I would like people to see the pure beauty of our living environment, to smell the sweet fallen leaf decay and soil laden spring rain. There is a healing energy to nature, a pausing to notice the interconnections of life. It is an energy, as I say in “Cells,” a “Slow down take it in energy/ Invades every cell in I/ Listen, feel, succumb.” I wish for readers to notice nature, find her hope, peace and ultimate joy.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
What am I working on next? I am always writing. I try to write every day. My poetry encompasses everything about my life, shaped by the beautiful hills and valleys where I live. I imagine more poetry dealing with nature could be in store. As I compile and work on the poems I have written and will write, a new theme will emerge and urge me to a new book. As of now I am focused on Sway as it has just released.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
This book of poetry invites you to pause, kneel down in a meadow and experience the flora and fauna of Pennsylvania. To live among the rolling hills and valleys, as nature’s changing rhythms keep the time.
In Sway by Tricia Johnson, we imagine ourselves in the wilds of Nature with our heads resting on the back of our arms, eyes wide, observing the Living World.
Sway
Sway by Tricia Johnson is a collection of poems about the changing seasons and embracing nature from the author’s perspective. Johnson has written this second book of poems; readers who liked her first book, Whirl Away Girl, will enjoy her newest edition.
Johnson’s poems are written almost like a coded diary that is full of emotion and feelings that are deep and guttural and evoke emotions in the reader. The poems are easy to read, but I feel like the poems are open to interpretation. I found one poem blended into another, and without the strong theme of summer, fall, winter, and spring (in that order, I believe), I couldn’t tell one poem from another.
My favorite poem in this book would be Shadows Bold, as it holds a steady rhythm and is easily interpretable. Depicting the snow melting and spring coming alive. I liked how the author began and ended the poem with similar lines, “Sun makes shadows bold… As sun keeps shadows bold.”
I enjoyed the inconsistency of the poems, and it was a pleasant surprise that accompanied each poem. Most of the poems do not rhyme or form a particular structure.
For example, on page 17, the poem does not start with a rhythm; however, if you continue to read, there are two lines that start a rhyme “Nighttime haze/ Your eyes glaze…” Only these two lines, and then the rhythm is dropped. But the author then picks up the rhythm again in a chunk at the end. “Silent prick to eye/Unstoppable weather drifting by/Pop-up storm of emotion/Clouded by such devotion…” And the rhyme is dropped again. This does not follow any structure that I’m familiar with, and I find it interesting.
Sway is a pleasant and light read for those who enjoy poems about nature and enjoy the reflective nature of poetry.
Page: 108 | ISBN : 1639884203
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