Catching Light: Poems

ISBN: 0807127701

Author: Byer, Kathryn Stripling

Condition: New

In Catching Light, Kathryn Stripling Byer searches for the language of aging, for a way of confronting every womans fear of looking in the mirror and seeing an old woman staring back. Inspired by a series of photographs entitled Evelyn-which depicts a former artists model in her declining years, still full of life and facing death with flair and wit-Byer finds a voice to contemplate the enigmatic but inevitable process of growing old.Byer opens her book with a ten-poem sequence, In the Photograph Gallery. Who is she? / a child hanging on to her mothers skirt / asks, as if she is frightened / by what she sees. Just a little old lady, / her mother soothes / Thats all she is. By placing Evelyn herself in the gallery to respond to the photos, and hear that exchange, Byer opens the door into the inner life of this little old lady.Part Two moves into more personal, mythological territory as the images of Evelyn and the poets own recollections coalesce. The final section draws closer to Evelyns dark hour, her humor in the face of death, her memories, her acknowledgment of her sexuality, her letting go.Catching Light is a profound inquiry into aging and how one remarkable woman faces it, sings to it, mocks it, rebels against it, and ultimately embraces it.