Growing Late contains over seventy tanka that are from Tom's direct personal experiences. The title poem and the spirit of this collection reflects on the reality that our lives are perpetually moving forward. We have no chance to stand still
or go back to who we once were or where we once were. That sense of constant change is a core variable that is at work on every person's emotional life. Growing Late is Tom Clausen's account of his own aging with details from the slipstream of his life.
Some tanka from Growing
Late:
wind
outside the mall
and
as I wait
with
my eyes closed
a
killdeer calls
from
another life
everywhere I see signs
of
life and death
in
the balance-
how
good my feet feel
out
of their shoes
I've
fancied too many
paths my life could take
to
have faith in any one path-
this
warm small comfort
of
having my very own chair
could be I'm tired
or
lost, but to close my eyes
and
nod off
while the world goes on
gives me a certain peace
out
the car window
through a snow flurry
she
studies the sun-
my
wife warns her
not
to look too close
From the back cover of
Growing Late:
'Tom
Clausen has taken the tanka form and given it his own voice. His
poems are flags set at the boundaries of his person that guide
the reader deeper into him or herself. Though his work is very
personal, the honesty and validity of it applies his
observations to all of us. He has courageously looked into his
heart and found us all' - Jane Reichhold, Editor,
Lynx
'Tom
Clausen has journeyed deep into the human mind and heart, the
vagaries of which he brilliantly links to the cycles of the
natural world. These are autumnal poems, filled with wistfulness
and regret for time past. At the same time, however, Clausen
finds comfort in the tiny wonders of daily life; a
daddy-longlegs, bare feet, the scent of wood smoke, and his own
chair. With deep modesty and generosity of spirit, he is
"quietly recording" and "living all these/ middle-aged days." '
Pamela
Miller Ness, Editor, Red Lights
Ordering Information:
Growing
Late, by Tom Clausen (2006) edited by John Barlow ( ISBN
1-903543-13-4)
80 pages,
5"x 7 3/4", perfect bound.
Available
through Snapshot Press:
U.S. $14.00 plus S & H
Canada $17.00 UK f. 7.99
U.S. $14.00 plus S & H
Canada $17.00 UK f. 7.99
Tom Clausen