Telling Tales of Dusk: A Poetry Book

Happy May Day!

(Giveaway is Closed)

Southern women have a way of relating to each other and that might be because there is just something about being raised a Southern girl.  We can identify with so many of the same things.

That’s the case with Terri Kirby Erickson’s new poetry book, Telling Tales of Dusk.  Terri contacted me and introduced herself, asking if I’d like to read her book and after clicking around at some sites and reading the word pictures that Terri puts together in her book, I was eager to read it for myself.  Terri was born in North Carolina and has lived much of her life there.  I have fond memories of that sweet state, so I know Terri has to be a great lady.  You can click on the link above to read more about Terri and her books.

I have always wished that I was a talented writer, but unfortunately that is not my strong suit.  Words draw us in like a bee to a flower (see, I try) 🙂  and when I read words that are written exceptionally well, I see that as such a talent.  One that I don’t particularly have, but admire in others.

Telling Tales of Dusk is Terri’s newest book of poetry (in paperback) and Terri is an award winning poet.  Each turn of the page brings a new little short story, written in poetry form that really wraps around your memories and pulls you right into her world.

From Tomato Sandwich, which starts:

Leaning on the counter

by an open window

with tomato juice dripping down

your chin and mayonnaise

gathering

in the corners of your mouth

as soggy, white bread

sticks to your teeth

Now, that feels and sounds so familiar to me, having eaten my share of tomato sandwiches growing up with a gardening dad who made sure if we had nothing else out of that garden, the tomatoes were plentiful and juicy.

Pool Day

Greased up and decked out in new bathing suits, plastic sunglasses and flip-flops, my brother and I waited in line with our mother at the entrance to Tanglewood Pool, clutching rubber rafts and over-sized beach towels with neon stripes you could spot from the moon.  The mingled scents of chlorine, coconut suntan lotion and French fries drenched in tomato ketchup, along with the whoops of joy and continuous splashing sounds that kids create when they’re cavorting in a pool, was enough to send us into a swoon of anticipated ecstasy.  But there were two metal turnstiles we had to pass through after Mom paid the baby-faced cashier.

Can’t you just feel that picture?  I can.  My mom used to take us to a city pool while growing up too, so this takes me back to that excitement. 

Words evoke memories and memories are what life is made up of.

Terri sent me a copy of the book and has graciously agreed to give one of YOU a copy of her book too, so if you’d like to win a copy, just leave a comment here on this post.

Did you like poetry growing up?  I remember having to write some poems for school and my mom actually kept one of my little paper binder of poems for a long time, but I have no idea what happened to them.  I was not destined to be a famous poet, but I do enjoy reading Terri’s words.  They are sweet, eloquent and memory-inducing.

Leave a comment to win and I’ll pick a winner by Monday evening!