Arbor and Winepress marks Lennart Lundh's 50th year as a published poet. It's fifty-six poems, which have appeared in print and on-line journals, magazines, and anthologies between 1967 and 2016, are gathered in a single volume for the first time. Reader Praise for Arbor and Winepress Story as poem, meditation as poem, memory as poem, prayer as poem, and man as poem writing it all down, Arbor and Winepress is an honest collection of accessible poems that examines a life of words, questions, love, people, nature, and places. When the narrator in "Your Blue-eyed Boy" says, "Death, / you're really beginning to / piss / me / off", Lundh speaks to everybody who values courage, acceptance, and humor, qualities that permeate nearly every page. -- Gary Rainford, author of Salty Liquor There is a shoebox in a closet. It is filled with photos, postcards, letters, mementos, maybe an old mix tape. The box is handed from a grandchild to a grandfather. The grandfather takes the time to tell the stories of every item in the box. The tales are told lovingly and honestly. The child listens in awe. We are all the grandchildren of Arbor and Winepress learning bits and pieces about a life. This is an incredibly well written and well assembled collection. -- David (Buddha 309) Hargarten, poet/publisher/word monkey Arbor and Winepress is a succinct and evocative collection of introspective ruminations, romantic nostalgias, and the complicated acknowledgement of the passage of time. The magic of Lennart's writing aims each poem straight for the heart, opening the door to the reader's own relationship with the human condition. A "must read" for any poetry lover! -- Jen Pezzo, author of Imaginary Conversations (The Poet's Haven) and Lucid Brightenings (Writing Knights Press) Everything Lennart Lundh says makes absolute sense, but when you read it, the words feel brand new and unexpected. His words challenge the reader to dive further and further into the world he builds with every poem. His ability to build tension in a piece is a rare find in any written genre. -- Azriel Johnson, Director of Writing Knights Press Though these selected poems span nearly 50 years of writing, they read as a cohesive, elegant whole wherein the author's voice is clear, succinct, and compelling throughout. There is a sophisticated use of description and an overall sense of nostalgia within each poem. Heartwarming lines such as "fresh-picked flowers in a child's hand" and "a baby's bottle dripped across my vest" evoke both memory and tender kindness. Likewise, the description emanated in lines such as "What thoughts I tongue-tie go uncaught" and "ink turned brown with the years like mouse droppings" capture the reader's attention and hold a meaningful, lasting impression. This collection is an enthralling read for all. -- Siddartha Beth Pierce, author of the poetry and art collections In the Beginning and the End (Writing Knights Press) and I Do, Ripple, and Fit Me Like a Glove (Inner Child Press). This collection of poems is filled with a lot of sweetness and longing. Most every poem has some small nugget of insight among the vignettes the poems share with us. Lennart's life experiences and self-deprecating wisdom are shared with a gentle touch. Loss, humor, melancholy, and nostalgia are all presented with the self-reflection of a life well lived. Highly recommended if you want a relaxing read that will take a strong tug at your heart. -- Christina M. Brooks, author at The Poet's Haven
About the Author: Lennart Lundh has written as a poet, short-fictionist, and historian. His prose and poetry have appeared in more than one hundred anthologies and journals since 1965. After the Wolves, a collection of short stories, is published by Writing Knights Press, as are the poetry collection Love Songs and Other War Poems and the poetry chapbooks Four Poems, Pictures of an Other Day, and So Careless of Themselves. Self-published poetry titles are Hitchhikers in Mississippi, 1936; Fifth April 1973; The Bear Whispers in the Night; the Poems Against Cancer fund-raising series; and Jazz Me, a collection of prose poems. Lennart reads regularly at several monthly open mics in Chicago and its suburbs. He also features at venues in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania when the opportunities arise. Audio and video files of readings are on YouTube and Sound Cloud. The author can be contacted at lenlundh@aol.com and found on Facebook. His self-published books, broadsides, and photography can be found on Etsy at visionswords. Other works are available on Amazon.