Now Come Hyacinths

Collection of poetry set in North and South Carolina. Janet Joyner's fourth collection. No Come Hyacinth spans observation of nature, both human and plant as well as offering social commentary on current issues. In the Piedmont region of North Carolina, wild hyacinth is one of the first signals for the return of spring, and the new growth it signals. In legend, the flower supposedly sprang from a drop of Hyacinthus' blood that fell from his brow when hit by a discus thrown by his lover, the god Apollo. Poets, like Eliott and Whitman, have often used flowers with slender racemes or roots as images of maleness. Janet Joyner's fourth collection, Now Come Hyacinths, celebrates both the resilience of the natural world and natural human connections, but registers possible failure of each. While much of this volume's fauna is distinctly midland, the poet's native low country South Carolina is evident in such poems as The Salt Marsh and Swamp. This is Joyner at the top of her game.