I am currently recovering from a severly broken ankle. It's been almost three months and I've kept myself occupied reading everything I could find (with sporadic concentration), writing on my blog, and playing my latest new addiction, Words With Friends.
My daughter just sent me a book of poetry. She's an artist in Boston and a sometime poet herself..but her creativity envelops many mediums blending a variety of art forms. Her warmth and caring heart spills over to children and her creative nature is
unstoppable.
SMALL GODS OF SUMMER by Gregory LeStage is a volume of poetry that she thought I would enjoy. I know nothing about poetry. My parents encouraged me to read Longfellow as a child and they kept a collection of poetry books, possibly a carry over from their college days.
The poems in SMALL GODS OF SUMMER are vivid and lyrical. They all tell a story. I especially liked references to family...a grandmother, a father beeswaxing a crib, a compassionate daughter dealing with a friend's illness.
Gregory LeStage's poems are contemplative and real. From my layman's perch, I can truthfully say this book was a welcome respite for me personally. It brought back memories of my parents' appreciation of books. Even the lighthearted (but not really) ode to a coyote jolted my memory....and how many novels can I read during this unwieldy convalescence?
Thankyou daughter, Jenn for sharing this book. It served as a wonderful interval from self-pity, immobility and these damn crutches!
Take a few minutes to read SMALL GODS OF SUMMER BY Gregory LeStage. One reviewer succinctly said "Here are intelligence and honesty that never waver, percolating beneath the surface with all the intensity of a life truly examined."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gregory LeStage lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with Julia, his wife of twenty years, and three daughters, Chloe, Sadie and Elsa. He is a former academic who left university life for the challenges of the business world and is currently a partner in a large global consulting firm. His passions include an old farmhouse on Cape Cod, his workshop and tools, a 1940 Farmall tractor, and a 1949 Chevrolet pickup truck. He earned his PhD and Master's from Oxford University, where he also taught, and his BA from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. He earned his high school diploma from The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. His poems have appeared in a number of publications; and his articles, interviews and reviews have been published by Poetry Review, the Times Literary Supplement, Times Higher Education Supplement, New Writing, Notes & Queries, and Oxford Today.
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