From the Dream

Unlike her first book of poetry, Behind the Blue Gate (l997), which used place to access reality, Carol Rose’s From the Dream invites us to draw upon memory, loss, death, friendship and love in an attempt to give shape to our lives. Dreams, like the spiritual realm, shift perspective, urging us to move between the worlds of waking and imaginal realities. In this strangely familiar terrain, perceptions are challenged. We sense the power of images, believing that if we can grab hold of them, wrest meaning from them, then (regardless of how bewildering they may seem) we can be blessed by them. “Carol Rose calls up her spiritual lineages, and dares the reader to go travelling with her, through dream, memory, spirit, and the landed body, toward the wisdom of self-understanding. Her poetic journey spirals back and forth through time, from the ancient path of priestess, to home and family, to her own Jewish heritage and identity.” — Katherine Bitney, author of The Boreal Dragon: Encounters with a Northern Land and Firewalk “In From the Dream, Carol Rose views her life from a mystical perspective. Here there are angels to interact with, the Shekhinah to guide her, and fate and meaning in everything that occurs. Drawing on ‘words/waiting to be exhumed,’ she creates poems that fulfill their ancient role as spells, prophecies, and ‘ancient utterances.’ ” — Howard Schwartz, author of The Library of Dreams: New and Selected Poems 1965-2013