Even Here

Affection and gratitude are much of what readers feel while engaging with Michael Cervas's new collection, Even Here. Each poem--and the entire collection--is a rigorous act of examining a life that has been both singular and ordinary. Honesty, intelligence, plain-spoken brilliance, and a generous heart have been harnessed to poems we readers will wish to read again and again. In his fourth collection, Even Here, Michael Cervas claims not to be a man of faith, and yet in these poems he worships the words, visions and desires that have become this poet's altar, a place where metaphor might rip "new meanings from old cloth." In poems that are clear, accessible and specific, he leads us on a journey from the weave of childhood memories to the fullness of adulthood. When we read these poems, we walk with him along the way, discovering poems about listening and seeing, about the words and melodies that created a life. They are also about the inevitability of loss, about a time when we may no longer see "droplets speckling the glass, the trees with leaves already melting auburn and orange." Most of all, these gentle poems speak about how the memories of our lives linger, how words and visions from the past accompany us as we move through our days. These poems are lights to guide us.

About the Author :
A life-long reader and long-time high school English teacher, Michael Cervas has always been at home in the world of books and ideas. Although he only began writing poems in his forties, he has discovered that the surest way to seek the dawn is to open every door. Accordingly, he tries hard to open those doors to produce his own work and to inspire his students, too, so that they can see the world through the eyes of poets and the lens of poetry. In addition to teaching language and literature, Michael curates the Westminster Poetry Series (which began in 1999) and the Fridays at Westminster Series of Readings (which began in 2008), both of which bring contemporary writers and their works into the lives of his students. As correlative pleasures to reading and writing poetry, Michael enjoys music (he plays keyboards in an eclectic band), sports (he plays squash as often as possible), and nature (he oversees the community garden at Westminster). He and his wife Deborah live in the Farmington Valley where they both continue to work part-time as educators and full-time as grandparents.

Review :
Affection and gratitude are much of what readers feel while engaging with Michael Cervas's new collection, Even Here. Each poem--and the entire collection--is a rigorous act of examining a life that has been both singular and ordinary. Honesty, intelligence, plain-spoken brilliance, and a generous heart have been harnessed to poems we readers will wish to read again and again. - David Huddle, Author of Blacksnake at the Family Reunion and Dream Sender In his fourth collection, Even Here, Michael Cervas claims not to be a man of faith, and yet in these poems he worships the words, visions and desires that have become this poet's altar, a place where metaphor might rip "new meanings from old cloth." In poems that are clear, accessible and specific, he leads us on a journey from the weave of childhood memories to the fullness of adulthood. When we read these poems, we walk with him along the way, discovering poems about listening and seeing, about the words and melodies that created a life. They are also about the inevitability of loss, about a time when we may no longer see "droplets speckling the glass, the trees with leaves already melting auburn and orange." Most of all, these gentle poems speak about how the memories of our lives linger, how words and visions from the past accompany us as we move through our days. These poems are lights to guide us. - Cortney Davis, author of Taking Care of Time, Poet Laureate of Bethel, CT