In Shade of Blue Trees, Kelly Cressio-Moeller’s images often depict humans and the natural world as one sentient, interconnected whole. “Big Sur stars harbor in my veins,” she writes in the poem Threshold, and “the mountain mirrors the slope/of my father’s shoulder.” In Begin & End at Big Sur the speaker “holds the sun’s hand until it falls asleep.” And in A Night of One’s Own, “Make a wish and a dandelion explodes.” Yet, that does not mean solace is easily found when dealing with death and suffering. Purple thistle provides “no comfort” and “cold stars” stare back, “unblinking,” in Departure. “knots in the/ fence stare drunk as bull’s eyes” in Panels From a Blue Summer, and darkness is “busy/quilting corners of indifference” in Something to Remember. Perhaps the answer to persevering is to do as the speaker in the book’s opening poem: “surrendering to mystery/ & the surprise of mapless navigation.” It’s certainly a guide to entering the mesmerizing, enchanted world of this collection—a world you won’t want to leave. Shade of Blue Trees is available here.
Kathy Davis 