Commotion by Karen Sagstetter
$19.99
Commotion has great heart and eloquence, as it shows us moments of the sheer intensity of living, whether in joy and love or in sorrow and in anxiety about our world. Karen Sagstetter writes about fragility–of relationships, of the planet, of our ways of life–and our world needs every witness it can get, to celebrate its beauty and to decry its woes as she does. She has seen more of the world than most of us, and she captures its “beautiful extra hours of light” as well as its ashes, its mercies and mercilessness, and its demeanor when it “flinches at the scent of human, of evil.” Let us believe–to adapt one of her lines–that she has “made it to the world’s bedside in time” and that her words will help us all sustain what we can of its recovery. She has the courage of a faithful guide.
–Reginald Gibbons, author of Last Lake, How Poems Think, and many others.
These seemingly simple, colloquial poems move in unexpected directions and pack quite a punch! A commotion is what a reader’s emotions will go through after spending time with this fine work.
–Linda Pastan, author of Insomnia, A Dog Runs Through It, and many others.
In tones that range from antic to elegiac, Karen Sagstetter has conjured the commotion of ongoing life. Keen-eyed and tender, these poems reanimate lost scenes, lost loves, and celebrate the wonder of ordinary hours. While Commotion rides the current of passing time, Sagstetter acknowledges the stillness that will follow: “Who knows whether worry / or joy stopped the wild river / but all the ripples have vanished”— except, perhaps, in words on a page.
–Jody Bolz, author of Shadow Play, A Lesson in Narrative Time, and The Near and Far.
June 2019 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
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A monthly feature that looks at books of and about poetry.
Description
Commotion
by Karen Sagstetter
$19.99, Full-length, paper
978-1-63534-867-5
2019
Karen Sagstetter grew up in Texas and has published poetry and fiction in numerous literary journals, including Poet Lore, Shenandoah, and District Lines; two chapbooks of poetry; two nonfiction books; and The Thing with Willie, a collection of linked stories set largely in Galveston. She studied in Japan as a Fulbright journalist and has traveled in more than fifty countries. She was head of publications at the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries and editor of the series, Asian Art and Culture; she also worked as a senior editor at the National Gallery of Art. She lives in Maryland.
Margaret Barno –
This eloquently composed book of poetry begins before opening the first page. Looking carefully on the front cover is a plaque on the forefront of the pier “ ADVERTENCIA” Spanish meaning WARNING. In the distance is a lighthouse with high electrical conductors, a lone figure sits on a bench near the lighthouse.
The author Karen Sagstetter crafts each poem with such skill, readers are drawn into picture she creates. Life is commotion.
Sagstetter’s meticulous grasp of language and experiences, using words only necessary to the poem, relying on readers knowledge of history, renders a powerful impact to each poem.
Sagstetter grew up in Texas, and shares stories of the Galveston area in previous short stories, literary journals, non-fiction books. A Fulbright scholar who studied in Japan, she also headed publications at two Smithsonian galleries and served as senior editor at the National Gallery of Art.
Sagstetter lives in Maryland but her ties to the Galveston area are evident in the series of linked stories largely set in Galveston.
If you’ve not read any of her works, it’s time to start. Begin with this short book of poems. You’ll be enriched for having done so.
Margaret Barno
Marnie is a retired medical social worker and religious educator who now lives in Tyler, TX creating puzzlers and writing blogs for the retirement community’s monthly newsletter.