The Next Moment

A poetry collection from Debra Kaufman"Kaufman's poems trace a journey of passion, emotional turmoil, loss and reconfiguration, sometimes in natural settings of almost mystical beauty. She can be exact: 'the heron hushed and studious...' Or lyrical: '...leaves swoop and skirt/the chilling wind like chimney swifts,' and perfectly descriptive: 'Clouds gray as porridge hold down the air.' The first section is all longing, self-questioning, and self aware desire-turned-feminist. The contrapuntal "Minestrone, Rainy Day" is a dance of ordinary soup-making with an interior monologue of rich grief and empathy.A father's death is the shadow and silk, smoke and tears and the heart of the central section, rendered in short lyrics. It is out of such loss that the poems of the final section emerge into, and as, "This Moment." Now summer's song is shimmer, and autumn's song is a boy playing in the leaves tossing 'armfuls of color/upward, like sparks.' The poet's song is lament becoming hymn of acceptance and celebration." - Betty Adcock, NC Award in Literature, Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim FoundationPart of the proceeds from this book will be donated to GEMS -- Gridley Emergency Medical Service (rural ambulance) and to Hospice.