Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things

Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things feels like a joyful, tender, eternal embrace. These poems are full of wonder and a desire for wholeness: recollections of girlhood, the poet now in a knowing season of life, no longer afraid of death. The poems feel wise and free. Marchand writes, "[Poetry] divines understanding / of the fledgling self/ and by showing us to ourselves, / saves us from our own extinctions." This is a marvelous book of delightful sweetness. -Lee Herrick, California Poet Laureate and author of In Praise of Late Wonder Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things offers poems that strive toward their reader, poems that "make every line count as much as breathing." In a rich and familiar voice that sounds to your spirit like an old friend, these poems speak of comfort and encouragement, recognition, and wisdom. This generous and vulnerable collection is a sanctuary of warmth and connection in the lonely wilderness of living. -Rena Priest, Washington State Poet Laureate (2021-23) and author of Patriarchy Blues

About the Author :
A Pushcart Prize nominee, Marie Marchand served as the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Ellensburg, WA, 2022-24. Her poetry has appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, Crannóg Magazine, Catamaran Literary Reader, California Quarterly, and Tikkun. Her previous books include Gifts to the Attentive (Winter Goose Publishing, 2022). Marie is a graduate of Naropa University and the Iliff School of Theology where she studied psychology, religion, and peacemaking. Her two passions are poetry and mental health. She enjoys living on the sunny side of Washingtonwith her two rescued min pins, Benny and Joon. Lana Hechtman Ayers, a former New Yorker who made her way to the Pacific Northwest via a dozen year sojourn in New England, has shepherded over a hundred forty poetry volumes into print in her role as managing editor for three small presses. Her work appears in Rattle, The London Reader, Peregrine, and elsewhere. Lana's latest collection, The Autobiography of Rain, is available from Fernwood Press. She lives in Newport, Oregon on the unceded lands of the Yaq'on people with her husband and several fur babies. She writes in a room over the garage with a view of the Yaquina river. Say hello at LanaAyers.com.

Review :
Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things feels like a joyful, tender, eternal embrace. These poems are full of wonder and a desire for wholeness: recollections of girlhood, the poet now in a knowing season of life, no longer afraid of death. The poems feel wise and free. Marchand writes, "[Poetry] divines understanding / of the fledgling self/ and by showing us to ourselves, / saves us from our own extinctions." This is a marvelous book of delightful sweetness. -Lee Herrick, California Poet Laureate and author of In Praise of Late Wonder Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things offers poems that strive toward their reader, poems that "make every line count as much as breathing." In a rich and familiar voice that sounds to your spirit like an old friend, these poems speak of comfort and encouragement, recognition, and wisdom. This generous and vulnerable collection is a sanctuary of warmth and connection in the lonely wilderness of living. -Rena Priest, Washington State Poet Laureate (2021-23) and author of Patriarchy Blues