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Some of the poems in Norah Pollard's first book present a compelling portrayal of her father, Seabiscuit's jockey. But more than that, they show her to have inherited his love and understanding of animals and appreciation of wilderness, which in her case takes the form of the tidal salt marshes and beaches where the Housatonic River flows into Long Island Sound. The scenes and denizens of this region come vividly to life in the poems of Leaning In.
Laura Hillenbrand writes, "In Leaning In, Norah Pollard has created a work of singular radiance, an elegant, truthful, resonant collection. It should be read, re-read, and remembered." And this from poet Gray Jacobik: "The most heartbreaking poetry seems to require true heartbreak to inform it -- would there were a less expensive way to make art. The poems in Norah Pollard's Leaning In have spared her, and us, nothing of life's emotional and spiritual extractions. 'Essential Oils -- are wrung,' as Dickinson would have it. In skillful, compassionate, wise, and unflinching poems, we're reminded that the works that touch us most deeply are unself-conscious in their strategies, revelatory in their authenticity, and 'cost' the most to make. Fortunately, when we surrender to them, the rewards, as here with Pollard, are inestimable." Ms. Pollard has read her work widely at venues such as Yale University and the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival. She has recently recorded a CD of twenty-six poems in the book. Click here to read sample poems from Leaning In. At various points in her life, Norah Pollard has been a folk singer, waitress, nanny, teacher, solderer, and print shop calligrapher. She currently works for a Bridgeport steel company. In 1983 she received the Academy of American Poets Prize from the University of Bridgeport, and for several years was editor of The Connecticut River Review. She lives in Stratford, Connecticut. Other praise for Leaning In: "Norah Pollard has translated a harrowing, yearning lifetime into imagery-rich poems of despair and wild flings. 'A dreamy stir of dust motes / and you'll sense the silent others in the shadows / attending.' Pollard gives us crystal fire dogs, racing horses, Narragansett dark, parakeets which are 'green pieces flying gorgeously / in twelve directions.' This is really splendid poetry from many years of writing with beautiful care." - Dick Allen "I was not surprised to learn that Norah Pollard is the daughter of Red Pollard, Seabiscuit's jockey, for in her poems as in her life, she shares her father's wry wit, total honesty, and passion for adventure." - Rennie McQuilkin The Boox Review (on line, 9/20/03) calls Norah Pollard’s poems “exquisitely intimate, deftly rendered delights” and says that they “not only illuminate the power of love but the power in truth as well.”
Antrim House lists two other books by Norah Pollard. For DEATH AND RAPTURE IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM click here, and for REPORT FROM THE BANANA HOSPITAL click here.
The cover of Leaning In was adapted from this watercolor of the Connecticut River by Norah Pollard's uncle, Eugene Conlon. He produced some twenty studies of the same scene under many different conditions. This one was painted in late spring. . |
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BOOK STATISTICS ISBN: 0-9662783-6-4
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