Birds in Flight

"There is much to treasure in Birds of Flight, Brenda Linkeman's latest thought-provoking book of poems. Apropos of our current century's anxiety of species survival, she delineates the need for relevant perspective, and surveys rays of hope from a life-time of avid bird-watching and painting. Birds in Flight takes us on a journey into the concerns of our planet's health. Linkeman gives us not only seabirds in deep colored sky and sea, but also songbirds living as denizens of decaying cities, from among the corners of a refuse-filled 21st Century landscape. Yet her protagonists find freedom in rising flight, their wings climbing above chaos to a discovered calm. "...wings climbing / explanations / arise in disorder / cease now / these rules."-Dan Woodward"The natural world's intersection with constructed settings intrigues us as we watch the real threats to both. How we engage, disengage, ponder, and muse permits a reflection upon the past while staving off the prospects ahead. In language that invites lingering, we slow the pace and permit introspection. The diligent observer finds threads in each environment that respect separations while brining those poetic moments of overlap. Brenda Linkeman's words and their assembly represent just such an observer." -Ed Epping, Professor of Art , Williams College, Emeritus