Don't Forget the Details.

Don't Forget the Details

Linda Bairstow

Verity Publishing

PO Box 1975, Tijeras, NM 87059

0977698203 $17.95 149 pages

"Don't Forget the Details: Poetry & Poetic Essays" is a reflective, deeply personal collection of poems and thought-filled essays, some of them presenting quite personal portraits. The poems are lovely, the poetic essays are sometimes vivid and painful, but the bonus selection, 'Celestial Faire, A Multi Media Extravaganza Featuring Welkin Dancers, Musicians, the Poet, Airaina, Animal Shindigs, and the Master of the Universe,' definitely, totally takes the cake. Each voice part is presented in a differing character-descriptive type. A fascinating dialogue between the Poet and the Master of the Universe is interrupted by Airaina, a dancing fairy-like being who suffers from maternal rejection and a displaced reality awareness. A great Debate and Debacle ensue, ending with tinkles of fairy dust, perhaps a hint of laughter. It is absolutely priceless. It is safe to conclude that no poet around Ms. Bairstow dare take him or herself too seriously. One poem, titled 'Ephemerality,' has been chosen to perhaps illustrate a bit of the Emily-Dickinson like charm that flashes now and then through Ms. Bairstow's poems:

   One day you're here. One day you're gone.
   Glory clear
   That lingers on.
   Transcendence.

   Glory clear
   That's passing on.
   The end.

There is much more to "Don't Forget the Details" than meets the mind's eye. What meets the reader is breathtakingly charming and engagingly beautiful. This is a literary volume of poetry and prose to be read, savored, and enjoyed.