Not About the Hours

For me, poetry is that art form that is both personal - or personally connective - and a way to awaken one's mind and senses to all that is existentially profound in the world. Barbara's poetry does just that, whether in terms of people/loved ones, memory, pets/animals, nature, grief, temporal associations, art/artists, places/spaces, spirituality, or things (lighthouses!). Her poetry is also an exploration and introspection of self. In the process of experiencing herself, one can't help reflecting on one's own self. Barbara's poetry makes me not me anymore, so to speak, but something more, a human being in full blossom of what it means to be fundamentally interconnected with the world around me.

-Reagan Ross, retired professor of media studies and writer, Your Film Professor

In this collection of bright and warm poems, Barbara Eckroad handles the tenderness of objects - a flask of oil, an amethyst ring - with care. She gives us, as well, the natural world, gives us the fig tree, the sequoia, roses, poppies, and so many dogs, all in the service of celebrating and honoring what is only briefly ours. These are poems of kindness as well as wisdom, poems of steady gaze alongside "bursts of wild abundance."

-Jacqueline Berger, author, Left at the Ruin

Barbara Eckroad delights in the everyday and invites us to experience nature and the world through her poems. On your journey through this delightful volume, you'll encounter owls and pelicans, visit Puget Sound, and breathe in the scent of berries, wildflowers, and the salty sea air. As Barbara puts it, "it's all sacred to me."

-John Bloner, Jr., editor/publisher, Moss Piglet