About the Book
Where the Deer Sleep is Jenny Bates' third book with Hermit Feathers Press following Slip (2020) and Visitations (2019). Bates lives adjacent to Hanging Rock State Park and her writing blurs the lines between what is tame and what is not. Her surroundings are still and peaceful and timeless. Her woods go on and on forever and her poetry reflects this unique relationship to the land and the company of animals.
Where the Deer Sleep is an inspiring call to reverence and wonder. To a place where "directions are not geographical." To a time life can "go back to being a good dog." To the church of cats and crows, stars and thunder, patience and grace - where the ordinary is divine. And miracle. I believe Jenny when she tells us she sits with toads - and listens. These poems make no pretense of being the High-Priestess of anything. Instead, they stand quietly by the entrance, bulletin in hand - inviting us in. You will be glad you did.
-David Dixon, author of Scattering of Saints (Hermit Feathers Press)
Jenny Bates' poems concentrate immense wisdom into delicately crafted miniatures. Where the Deer Sleep is a meditation on the fragile bonds between humankind and other living creatures and is particularly relevant to our time. Bates' insights show she is truly a walker between worlds...And note, walker between worlds is my ultimate accolade!
- Juliet Marillier, author of the Seven Waters and Warrior Bards series
Jenny Bates' new collection, Where The Deer Sleep, is a love song to the natural world. These lyrical, and often narrative, poems celebrate animals of all kinds-from a domestic cat to deer and Turkey Vultures, toads and so many more-and our relationships with them. Many of the best poems in the collection ask whether animals need us at all or if we're simply co-existing. In Nocturnal Howl Before Compline the narrator says, "...foxes sun themselves whether I'm there to watch or not." And in Dots she questions whether the odd number of spots on a red-bellied woodpeckers tail are a "Distraction or a miracle?" asking the reader to define their own relationship with the animals around them. In the end, Where the Deer Sleep, is a winning portrait of a wanderer, a naturalist and a poet, finding solace in the natural world. In one poem, Bates says, "I find myself loving this long, slow resurrection of wild things," and I have no doubt here she speaks the truth.
- Steve Cushman, author of How Birds Fly
About the Author :
Jenny Bates, born and raised in Michigan, resides as poet in the foothills of North Carolina. She is a member of Winston-Salem Writers, NC Poetry Society and the NC Writers Network. She has four published books, Opening Doors: an epilogue of poetry about Donkeys (Lulu Publishing, Raleigh, NC) and Coyote with Coffee (Catbird on the Yadkin Press, Tobaccoville, NC). Both books reside in the collections of libraries and universities (Vanderbilt and the University of Vermont) in the United States and England. The University of North Carolina School of the Arts displays her poem, A Bluebird Heart for Aaron Shearer as a tribute to the Classic Guitar master. Her work has also been published in Flying South, Winston-Salem Writers' premier literary work. She is a consecutive, contributing poet in the Winston-Salem WritersNorth Carolina Poetry Society series Poetry in Plain Sight and in 2017 she was a top 10 Finalist in the Press 53 Single Poem Contest. On the 100th Anniversary of WWI, she was asked to write poetry launching a website dedicated to the history and contributions of Donkeys and Mules during WWI. These poems now reside in the archives of the Animals in War memorial in London. Her poetry is a reflection of her philosophy of life: All humans have learned about being human by what we have gained from observing our fellow animals. With a much longer history than humans, animals have learned perhaps not to accept, but to respect their differences. Her work has been published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, Old Mountain Press, and Hermit Feathers Review. Jenny's poetry has appeared in laJoie 2017- 2019, a quarterly publication of Animals' Peace Garden, dedicated to promoting appreciation for all beings. Her work has also appeared in the following: As It Ought To Be Magazine, Poetry That Sustains Us, Word Doodles Literary Magazine, Caldwell Arts Council Western Regional Poetry Competition, 2020, Silver Birch Press, Griffin Poetry (blog), Red Headed Stepchild, Self-Educating Poets, From Whispers to Roars, Voices on the Wind, Nexus Poetry Prize, 2021, Indelible Arts Journal 2022. She took Honorable Mention in 2022 for her poem, A Space Away from the Sun, in the Carolina Writer's Prize Contest, and two poems, were featured in the inaugural issue of the WFDD Poetry Journal in Winston-Salem, NC. In 2019 her poem Fame Looks Both Ways was included in the Walt Whitman Bicentennial Celebration for publication in Poets to Come. Bates' two most recent books are, Visitations (Hermit Feathers Press, 2019) and Slip, (Hermit Feathers Press, 2020).
Review :
Jenny Bates' poems concentrate immense wisdom into delicately crafted miniatures. Where the Deer Sleep is a meditation on the fragile bonds between humankind and other living creatures and is particularly relevant to our time. Bates' insights show she is truly a walker between worlds...And note, walker between worlds is my ultimate accolade!
- Juliet Marillier, author of the Seven Waters and Warrior Bards series
