"Shelve your losses. Taste spoonfuls in remembrance," exhorts Kim Ports Parsons in this moving and lyrical first collection, The Mayapple Forest. A profound generosity of spirit guides these poems, as the poet navigates a landscape of both loss and abundance. The old homestead, the mother's presence, the lost child and lost self are set against an enduring natural plenty: of gardens, the gathering of food, and the sweetness of cooking with family. Sometimes shadows are raised, sometimes pain suggested-the mayapple's dangerous, delicious lure-but always, the work transcends to a deepening mindfulness, and an authentic acceptance of the world as it actually is. May we all learn from these beautifully compassionate and discerning poems.
-Janet MacFadyen