In this expansive collection, the narrator describes events she may or may not have witnessed and muses on history and the ways images present themselves, some as homey as fiddling with an alarm clock, others as arcane as an Egyptian heiroglyph. The question "What time is it, anyway?" a line from an early poem, courses through the work, but the reader soon stops asking, drawn in by impressions loosened from personal crisis, images as common as rain falling on the roof or as startling as: "Money can be / a gleaming avenue, a night / of snow, a fine dizzying swirl, a cold / white wines kind of spin under / the street lamp..." Humor abounds in poems such as "Size," which describes the world inhabited by a woman who wears a size 0 dress, and a series of reflections about a Halloween pumpkin containing the line Humans want their gods to look like them / and lead them through the dark. Several of the poems explore the character of individual words that have survived from the early history of the English language--bumble, sleek, bilge. Once again past and present meet, converse, get to know each other. But such generalities can take us only so far in apprising a collection as rich in intelligence and whimsy as this one. It elicits comparisons to both the brilliant wordplay of Marianne Moore and the subtle metaphysics of Wislawa Szymborska. Little eternities indeed. Thats a contradiction in terms, though it beautifully conveys how truthful, simple, and penetrating Chmielarzs poems can be.

About the Author

Little eternities is Sharon Chmielarzs eleventh book of poetry. Kirkus Reviews named her recent volume, "The Widows House," one of the one hundred best books of 2016. "The Other Mozart," her verse biography of Nannerl Mozart, served as a libretto for an opera. Chmielarzs favorite subjects include family, landscape, and history. Chmielarz was born and raised in Mobridge, South Dakota. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in German, French, English, and education. On campus she had a close encounter with poetry and fell in love with it. From then on, she took as many writing courses as she could while continuing her work as a public school teacher.She taught English in the public schools of Saint Paul, and creative writing for the Writers-in-the Schools Program and at the Perpich Center for the Arts. Her second marriage to Eugene Jax brought international travel and a great interest in art. In retirement from teaching, she returned to academic life, earning an MFA in poetry from Hamline University. Norita is one of the poetry editors for Red Bird Chapbooks. "Crossing The Waters" is her fifth collection of poems.