Announcing the publication of Sweet Juice and Ruby-Bitter Seed
Merryn Rutledge
Available for purchase at Amazon and Kelsay Books www.kelsaybooks.com
Merryn Rutledge is a poet, book reviewer, and poetry craft teacher. Her poems are published widely. Writing is a third career, after first teaching literature and writing, and then, with a doctorate in leadership, running a national leadership development firm.
Sweet Juice and Ruby-Bitter Seed startles the reader into wakefulness. Deceptively simple, sometimes pastoral, this courageous book consistently chooses honesty over sentiment. In doing so, it builds trust, invites companionship. Unafraid of grief, deeply caring, never jaded, the poems are raw and tender. In “A Northerner Faces East” she writes:
What millions of breaths have I
not noticed, my brother whispered just before his last one.
Her husband’s death, her rural southern childhood, simple joys, terrible loss—all are shared with generosity. We are offered a glimpse of what it might be to live together bravely.
—Scudder Parker, author, Safe as Lightning.