Through his poetic meditations in Night Weavers, Melvin Dowdy takes us on his journey to find a way forward after his wife suffers a stroke that significantly changes their lives. “We are the fierce stretching for the light,” he says at the beginning of the middle section. And he is fearless in gazing at his struggles along the way. Yet, love and the beauty of nature and music are constant companions, and we see hope in poems like “The Boy with No Ear for Music” where a child works to master an instrument, overcoming the disparagement of an early teacher. Dowdy doesn’t gloss over the difficulties of the process of becoming resilient, but he makes us glad he shared his path with us.
Night Weavers is available on Amazon
Kathy Davis 