Auroras Over Acadia (Paperback)

Reviews

"AURORAS OVER ALL OF US!" by PAUL L. - 30 September 2019

Auroras Over All of Us In his newly published collection of verse "Auroras over Acadia," Paul Liebow's poems range in subject from the people and landscape of the Cranberry Isles to ice-fishing on Moosehead Lake and the Maine Troop Greeters at the Bangor International Airport. ******************************************* Sept. 19, 2019 Arts & living, Lifestyle Reviewed by Carl Little Special to The Ellsworth American ELLSWORTH — Paul Liebow’s poetry comes from many different sources: his love of Downeast Maine; his passion for Native American and aboriginal cultures; his fierce distaste for war and its ravages; and his quest to find meaning in life. The verse in “Auroras over Acadia” (Atmosphere Press, 2019) highlights those inspirations and much more. A former ER doctor, Liebow spent childhood summers on Great Cranberry Island and has lived in Bucksport for more than 30 years. The title poem evokes the wonder of witnessing the Aurora Borealis over Acadia National Park, “when it streams down slowly/from the highest altar of the sky” (see Abbie Huston Evans’ poem “Northern Lights over Sutton” for another vision of Arctic dazzlement). In a line of poets that includes Rachel Field and Hortense Flexner, Liebow conjures the Cranberry Isles, especially the Big Island and its landscape landmarks: the Pool, the Great Heath and the back shore. He salutes the rowing styles of islanders, among them Tudd Bunker, who stood “high on the front seat pulling one oar/to both sides, his pipe upside down in his smile.” He also waxes lyric about Maine traditions, like driving the Airline road and ice-fishing on Moosehead Lake, “Checking my lines at night for delicious/prehistoric-looking bottom-dwelling cusk.” The poems in the book’s second section, “Life’s Beautiful Borning,” evoke the culture and fate of Native Americans as the white man, called Wasichu, removes them from their land and unleashes the “Mad Dogs of Death.” Not all is despair: Liebow finds hope in the restoration of the Penobscot River (he served as a “Penobscot River ambassador” for the dam removal project) and the miracle of salmon “homing.” One of the longest poems in the book, the three-part “Dreamtime Down Under,” is built on four-line stanzas made from two rhyming couplets. Liebow employs rich language in describing the Dreamtime of the native Australian: Digeridoo moan deep deserts’ sweet sounds, echoing eternity in perseveratory rounds. Bandicoots, wallabies and blue-tongued skinks light up in deep greens and psychedelic pinks. Rhyming poetry is quite rare these days, in part because of the challenges it presents, to find rhymes that work without drawing too much attention to themselves. While some of Liebow’s poems have a backed-into-a-corner feeling, he embraces the musical — and rhythmical — elements of formal verse with flair. “The Way We Get By,” a poem inspired by the Maine Troop Greeters at the Bangor International Airport, opens with these two-line pairings: We thank you with smiling eyes that roam back to your families huddled at home. On strangers’ cell phones your deepest fears can start their healing in star-spangled tears. The second half of the book offers an array of poems inspired by world events, from 9/11 to Captain Sully’s miraculous landing on the Hudson River, from JFK’s funeral to the loss of the space shuttle Columbia. Liebow remembers and eulogizes, celebrates and mourns. He also turns to his personal life in a few poems, reflecting on his experience as a doctor (“Just Listen to the Patient”) and his recovery from heart transplant surgery (“Missing Man Formation”). At the end of the book Liebow offers a special dedication to his parents. His father, Averill, entered America via Ellis Island as a “little 8-year-old Jewish boy fleeing the Nazis” and went on to college and Yale Medical School; he later served as lead pathologist on the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission. His mother, Carolyn, grew up in Southwest Harbor, became a captain in the U.S. Army Nursing Corps and raised three sons. Those boys went on to captain boats, manage school systems and tend to medical emergencies. One comes away from this book admiring Liebow’s sense of gratitude for his life and the sacrifices of others. While he has issues with the powers that be (which are addressed more directly in his opinion pieces and letters to the editor), he maintains an optimism that is strong in spirit. Liebow’s poems are auroras over all of us. ************************************************************************************** CARL LITTLE Carl Little is the author of many art books, including Edward Hopper’s New England, The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent, The Art of Francis Hamabe, and Nature & Culture: The Art of Joel Babb. His 2011 book Eric Hopkins: Above and Beyond won the first John N. Cole Award from Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Little lectures widely; venues include the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Wadsworth Atheneum, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, and many Maine libraries. He contributes to a number of publications, including Art New England, Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors, Ornament, Maine Home + Design, and Island Journal. Little’s poetry has appeared in a wide range of literary journals, including the Paris Review, Off the Coast, Hudson Review and Words & Images. He is the author of Ocean Drinker: New & Selected Poems (Deerbrook Editions). His poetry has appeared in several anthologies edited by Wesley McNair. A native New Yorker, Little holds degrees from Dartmouth (BA in English), Middlebury (MA in French) and Columbia (MFA in writing). Prior to joining the staff at the Maine Community Foundation in 2001 as director of communications and marketing, he directed the public affairs office at College of the Atlantic and oversaw the Ethel Blum Gallery. Little lives and writes in Somesville on Mount Desert Island. ******************************************* “Where am I – at a third read or a fourth? Paul Liebow’s poetry reaches the widest range of subjects, with a remarkable breadth of style, all at the depth of the heart. Window after window is opened. I like those best that make me cry, and I can choose a few favorites, playing to his gift of diversity – ‘I Want to go to Space,’ ‘Salmon Homing,’ ‘Just Listen to the Patient,’ the tiny touching ‘A Hug in the Snow,‘ and the taking-all-the-time necessary which is the respectful telling of Aboriginal creation myths in ‘Dreamtime Down Under.’ Liebow’s craft is to fit the poetic style to the subject. His gift is to bring his readers with him.” . Maren Tirabassi author of twenty books ******************************************* The poetry of Paul Averill Liebow is the devoted, urgent practice of an emergency physician, which he is; and the "other-worldly knowing" of a man with a fortified heart, which he is. The "Maine on My Mind" of which he speaks is a multi-layered state of life, color, music, history, science, art, dream and more–the local knowledge and language of home as well as that of our whole earth and universe. Patricia Bucksport poet and author ******************************************* I’m an Australian Viet Nam War veteran who has had the pleasure of visiting Washington, DC on two separate occasions to make my pilgrimage to the edifice we call all call The Wall. Your poem is beautiful in its power and tenderness and you’ve that a step further and related to your parents who gave of themselves in another time and in a different war. That is a perspective I had never before considered, perhaps because I have become a little selfish in the ownership of The Wall. Thank you so very much for opening my eyes to yet another miracle of the healing power of The Wall. Anthony Pahl, Webmaster International War Veterans Poetry Archive ******************************************* Thank you for the very sensitive poem you wrote in memory of our Bunny. And for visiting the Viet Nam Memorial. We are always touched by knowing of friends who made the effort of searching out his name. Bunny's Mom ******************************************* I was amazed when I went online and googled Cranberry Island Poetry to find a treasure trove of poetry by YOU! Would it be okay to use to Cranberry Island Childhood Trilogy and Columbus Day Walk in the memorial service we are planning for my sister next Sunday? Elizabeth ******************************************* You do, indeed, have an "utter absorption in the moment" in your place and season poems and your portraits. I love Carl and Victor and Pink. World Enough and Time certainly is one of the most wonderful poetic manifestos I've read! Your tender poems A Hug in the Snow and I want to go to Space are deeply moving and I like them best because I am a great lover of story, but for practical purposes I think I will take Columbus Day Walk with me to have a quiet time on Monday. Maren Tirabassi former Portsmouth, NH Poet Laureate and author, most recently "A Child Laughs -- Prayers of Justice and Hope ******************************************* When Death Comes and PTSD touched me so deeply and profoundly. I was so moved by your depth of understanding and knowledge of PTSD that I sent it on to many survivors of this hellish conflict. Your words from PTSD pierced cyberspace, reaching many others’ hearts. You seem to be intimately aware of the symptoms that PTSD presents with Please be aware of the many hearts touched by your words and know you are now in many people's thoughts and prayers. Badge on Fire- Wow! This is the bomb! Did you write this from an actual incident? I hope not! My heart cried for this man, for the horrendous accident that befell him forevermore, and for his wife and child. Hang Down your Head Tom Daly Such a wonderfully touching tribute to a nurse who walked the extra mile and did the "right thing" for his patient regardless of what was or was not going on around them. The tender care, appreciation and respect for our veterans was obvious, regardless of cognitive process or lack of didn't matter. Rita Spilken Phd, CEO and founder of Our House, which specializes in caring for our veterans with PTSD ******************************************* Oh, how wonderful that your words are helping and healing others! You are physician of the soul as well as body. I wonder if you had the least idea that your words would touch so many souls. And it sounds like they will continue to, as Dr. Spilken shares your poem (and others) with needy people. See, I told you so! I told you that you have a true gift….of seeing….and then putting into words ….things that are unspeakable by most of us! Chloe: Master Naturalist Instructor ******************************************* I've said it before. Paul, your writing is profound. I'm so happy for you and all the attention this book is getting. Nicely done......! Dan: EMS Director and Cancer Care Coordinator ******************************************* Oh, Paul - The Island...Made me cry. Too fuckn’ beautiful. Hibakusha Hiroshima, as my Doctor Father told me. He too went to Yale. And of course, Listen to the Patient... having gone through what I just have and having severe RA. Thanks! Betsy: Emergency Room RN ******************************************* Wow Paul, you are expressing so many poetic thoughts that I fully relate to and understand. Do you think it is because I, too, am facing the vast unknown spaces that ageing and illness provide, or predict? Your style has become more succinct, sort of straight from the brain to paper- or computer. Suzanne ******************************************* Love your poems. They really speak to me. Especially moved by the first one on death. Thanks, so much for sharing. Rama ******************************************* Saw the article- really enjoyed the poems. I am passing the book on to my son so he can read the one about Carl. He has fond memories of Carl as he was the Co-op manager while Carl was still fishing. Sue Hill