Expect no easy certainties here. Expect no false sense of comfort. Not About Dinosaurs is about devastating life-transitions. These are bardo poems, Linda Neal's lyrical account of how total rupture forces us into profound transformation, of how death and grief demand the epiphany of self-knowledge. Do expect to find wise, erotic candor here. Rich in evocative images, Neal's poems "...are what they seem, complicated, raw and ripe...." -Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita Linda Neal's honesty shines through her work. Her keen awareness of her own heart conjures up phrases that weave a tapestry of a life full of riches. Her poems are full of passion even when they are born of longing and melancholy. She writes about the 'dark of eternal blackness' and yet there is light and inspiration in her words. -Gerry Shishin Wick, Author of The Book of Equanimity, The Great Heart Way and My American Zen Life. Linda Neal's Not About Dinosaurs wraps us in the very flesh of the life force. It expresses-embodies-a sensuous lifetime run through a take-no-prisoners memory. "I want to Now all the time," she has written, and "Nobody ever knows / how to tell you about time..." Can you tell? --This is a brave book. -Marvin Bell
Expect no easy certainties here. Expect no false sense of comfort. Not About Dinosaurs is about devastating life-transitions. These are bardo poems, Linda Neal's lyrical account of how total rupture forces us into profound transformation, of how death and grief demand the epiphany of self-knowledge. Do expect to find wise, erotic candor here. Rich in evocative images, Neal's poems "...are what they seem, complicated, raw and ripe...." -Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita Linda Neal's honesty shines through her work. Her keen awareness of her own heart conjures up phrases that weave a tapestry of a life full of riches. Her poems are full of passion even when they are born of longing and melancholy. She writes about the 'dark of eternal blackness' and yet there is light and inspiration in her words. -Gerry Shishin Wick, Author of The Book of Equanimity, The Great Heart Way and My American Zen Life. Linda Neal's Not About Dinosaurs wraps us in the very flesh of the life force. It expresses-embodies-a sensuous lifetime run through a take-no-prisoners memory. "I want to Now all the time," she has written, and "Nobody ever knows / how to tell you about time..." Can you tell? --This is a brave book. -Marvin Bell
