The Dust of Hope: rune poems - Judy Croome

 

5 Stars!

ABOUT THE BOOK -

Judy Croome’s latest collection of poetry returns to the ancient ways of the Nordic runes, shining a light of hope and healing as we navigate through the wilderness of anxiety permeating these early years of the twenty-first century.

The simple verses console the reader with a calm acceptance that, even during a global pandemic, everyday life ebbs and flows with the natural rhythms of the timeless oceans.

Here are poems that invite us to stop, to breathe, and to see the world around us from a new perspective birthed within the center of our souls.

Purchase from Amazon - HERE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/POET -

Judy Croome lives and writes in Johannesburg, South Africa. Shortlisted in the African Writing Flash Fiction 2011 competition, Judy’s short stories, poems and articles have appeared in various magazines, anthologies and newspapers, such as The Sunday Times, The Huffington Post (USA) and the University of the Witwatersrand’s Itch Magazine. In 2021 and 2016, Judy was the poetry judge for Writers2000’s Annual Writing Competition. In 2021, Judy presented an hour long workshop to Writers 2000 called “The Gift of Poetry”

Judy loves her family, cats, exploring the meaning of life, chocolate, cats, rainy days, ancient churches with their ancient graveyards, cats, meditation and solitude. Oh, and cats. Judy loves cats (who already appear to have discovered the meaning of life.)

Her fiction and poetry books ‘the dust of hope: rune poems” (2021); “Drop by Drop: poems of loss” (2020); “a stranger in a strange land” (2015),”The Weight of a Feather & Other Stories” (2013), “a Lamp at Midday” (2012) and “Dancing in the Shadows of Love” (2011) are available from Aztar Press.

“Street Smart Taxpayers: A practical guide to your rights in South Africa” (Juta Law, 2017) was co-authored with her late husband Dr. Beric Croome (1960 – 2019).

Follow her on GoodReads, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

MY THOUGHTS -

A wonderful collection of poems that I would definitely read over and over. They are pretty straight forward, not anything that you have to figure out, which is nice for a change with poetry. 

Not all the poems, but quite a few of them reflect on "lockdown" during the Covid pandemic. These poems could really be about any loneliness, not just "lockdown or quarantine" so - easily relatable.

Some of these poems are very sad and others very encouraging. All of them - very good!

it seems strange to me
that In this new normal,
this world where death lurks
in a handshake or a hug,
safety lies in separation and isolation.
 
and yet…
all those decades before
safety lay in the pack
if you were fat or black,
or gay, or spoke too much,
or spoke too little,
the pack turned on you,
leaving your weekend and
as vulnerable as an ant spinning in a web,
shaking with the footsteps of approaching death.
 
and yet now…
all those who clung together,
once gaining strength
and cruelty from their unity
are kept apart, weakening with terror
while we – the alienated, the outsiders –
we’re still alone with our strength
and our souls that speak true,
for we possess the gift of solitude
and lockdown is our home.

I voluntarily posted this review after receiving a copy of this book from "Poetic Book Tours" and the author -  Thank You!