Mary K. O’Melveny’s poems are fierce and tender, political and melodious all at the same time. Like a prayer, they use hidden rhyme for incantation and hypnosis. They will bring you to action if you need help with pressing the button to donate to a cause. They will guide you gently if you forgot how to be patient and kind. They will inspire you if you forgot how to have faith. They will help you heal and flourish if you’re ailing. Above all, they will inspire you to be mindful of the earth, generous with nature, caring to birds. Full of storks, parakeets, and swans, these poems invite you to learn from birds about the resilience of refugees, the faith of the poor, the trust of the forlorn. “Talking indignant politics” or spelling out a prayer, O’Melveny’s poems teach about companionship, curiosity, and optimism.\n—Dr. Lucia Cherciu, Professor, English Department, SUNY/Dutchess; Poet Laureate, Dutchess County, NY 2020–2022\nThis beautiful, courageous, truthful book makes for delightful reading. Mary K O’Melveny’s Flight Patterns begins with memories rich in the physical joy of nature. Through these contemplative, imaginative and image-filled poems, we experience the poet’s love of birds and her concern for losses in our natural environment. The collection touches on age, injustice and violence; the harm wrought by Covid-19, political events here and abroad; and threats to the Earth and its inhabitants, including those birds that the poet loves so dearly, valuable because they, “remind us of what we love rather than what we fear.” Many of those fears are justified.\nTo those who find themselves oppressed and undervalued, “flight” is a metaphor for escape. Here, it is also a metaphor for personal growth and a call to respond now to the progressive complexity and challenges of our changing world. These poems offer meditations and fantasy, dialogues between birds and humans and a path to reversing daily losses of “birdsong.” Here, we can celebrate nature’s ineffable, profoundly moving gifts and understand the work required to save ourselves and those who will follow us into the future. Fortunately, the poet imbues us with signs of enduring hope, supported by the persistence of living things that have survived over the millennia.\n—Rhina P. Espaillat, Poet, Short Story Writer, Essayist, Translator, Teacher, Author of, most recently,And After Alland The Field\nReaders of this collection will be struck by how consistently imaginative Ms. O’Melveny’s poetry is. Her poems are atmospheric and magical, tender and humorous, revealing and smart. She also possesses a rare and keen eye for the connection of nature to sound, wisdom, and character. Highly recommended!\n—Joe Maita, Editor/Publisher, Jerry Jazz Musician

Flight Patterns: A Poetry Collection

Literature & Fiction

O'Melveny, Mary K.

Poetry

Kelsay Books

MERGING STAR HYPOTHESES, Mary K O'Melveny's first full-length poetry collection, takes readers on a ride through space, time, family dynamics, nature, science and politics. Award-winning poems include Travels To The Valley Of Lost Things (First Prize 2019 Slippery Elm Literary Journal Poetry Competition), Confessions of a Gazan Stargazer (Honorable Mention, 87th Writer's Digest Poetry Contest), The Sounds of Truth Vanishing (Short List, 2018 Fish Publishing Prize) and Kindness (Pushcart Prize nominee 2018). Reviewers have described the book as "a stunning debut" using "an orbit of words that swirl, shine and take us on an intergalactic journey." O'Melveny's "powerful voice" and her "blend of science and a hopeful heart, mixes with "rich imagery" as she explores "the wavelength between human curiosity and the stars, the coordinates of lovers, the collapsing and expanding family and the limits of distance and loss." The collection was a semi-finalist for the 2019 Washington Prize sponsored by The Word Works.

Merging Star Hypotheses

Finishing Line Press

A collection of poetry and prose by a Hudson Valley–based group of women writers.The authors of this collection are seven older women from diverse backgrounds who are members of a long-standing Hudson Valley writing group composed of academics, a social worker, a psychiatric nurse, a teacher, and a lawyer. Some are retired, some are still working, some are musicians. All are volunteers, activists, and artists. The sections of the book―Remembrance, Joy, Visibility, Resistance, Resilience, Transformation, Aging, and Bearing Witness―grew from the authors’ individual passions and from their collective perspective of being women-of-a-certain-age in a culture that tends to render older women invisible, irrelevant. This collection is filled with honest, insistent poetry and prose that demands to be heard by readers of all ages, genders, and perspectives.

An Apple in Her Hand: A Collection from the Hudson Valley Women's Writing Group (Codhill Press)

Schmidt, Jan Zlotnik

Miller, Tana

Geraghty, Colleen

Goldpaugh, Kit

Howard, Eileen

Waugh, Kappa

United States

State University of New York Press

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